Mars unglues late, loses to Hampton, 58-53
ADAMS TWP — Early on, it appeared as if Monday night would be an easy one for the WPIAL Section 2-5A Mars girls hoops team. It was anything but.
The Planets powered out to an early lead and visiting Hampton didn’t sink a basket until almost five minutes had gone by, but the Talbots persevered in a 58-53 decision.
“I think, at the beginning of the game, (it was) probably a little bit of nerves,” Hampton coach Tony Howard said of his side missing its initial nine shots. “This group, they play better when they play 100 miles an hour. I think sometimes at the beginning of games and the beginning of halves, it takes us some time to kind of get that motor going.
“I think Mars punched us early ... and we kind of picked up our intensity.”
Once the pace was fixed to what the Talbots (12-5, 6-2) are comfortable with, a barrage of treys that pulled them out of an 8-0 hole in the opening frame. They knocked down half of their 10 total three-point makes in that quarter’s final 2:51.
“They must only practice three-point shots,” Mars coach Dana Petruska joked. “They shot it really well ... They did what they needed to do.”
She wasn’t too far off.
“We don’t only work on threes, but we work on four-pointer shots in practice, because we want to extend our range a little bit and we’re trying to pull the defense out,” Howard said. “We always say, ‘If you’re open a step back, you might as well shoot that rather than stepping in and being contested.
“We work on a lot of threes in practice.”
The lead changed five times in the second quarter and, at one point, the Planets (12-3, 6-1) scored on four straight possessions. Still, by the time halftime arrived, the hosts only led by one.
Mars held on to that advantage for all of the third frame, thanks in large part to seven points from senior forward Lauren Atwell, who’s grown to be a leader over the course of the go-round.
“She has really matured and she wants it more than anybody,” Petruska said of Atwell. “She’s excited for our success. Usually when you get a player like Lauren — who’s going to be playing volleyball in college — it’s like, ‘Yeah, I know I’m going to play because I’m 6-2 and athletic.’ But I think she’s really coming through for us.”
The Planets hadn’t yet lost a contest this calendar year, coming out on the right side of each of their last six. Since losing senior guard Alexa McDole to an injury early on, games have been tightly-contested.
“There were five or six of them that were down to the wire,” Petruska said. “It’s one of those situations where I’m really proud of my kids. It doesn’t matter where the season goes from here. They have really risen up — especially with the loss of Lex.”
Hampton’s Claire Rodgers evened things at 46 just 15 seconds into the fourth, then pulled ahead a minute later. Mars senior Annalyn Issacs, who finished with a game-high 18 points, answered on consecutive possessions and put her squad ahead by three with 5:21 to go. The Talbots closed things out with a 10-2 surge and the Planets failed to score in the game’s final three minutes.
“We’ll be okay,” Petruska said. “We’ll regroup here and it’s been a while since these kids have lost. Sometimes when you get in a close game like this, now you’re playing not to lose and they make poor decisions.
“You’re not going to win every game.”
Atwell had 13 points in the loss and Vita Vargo rounded out Mars double-digit scorers with 10.
HAMPTON 58
Kat Milon 6 0-0 17, Meghan Murray 7 0-1 16, Claire Rodgers 6 0-0 14, Emma Kick 4 0-1 8, Sterling Thompson 1 0-0 3. Totals: 24 0-2 58.
MARS 53
Annalyn Isaacs 5 4-4 18, Lauren Atwell 5 3-4 13, Vita Vargo 4 1-4 10, Olivia Donnelly 4 0-0 8, Alexis Cashdollar 1 2-4 4. Totals: 19 10-16 53.
Hampton 19 8 17 14 — 58
Mars 15 13 18 7 — 53
3-point goals: Hampton 10 (Milon 5, Rodgers 2, Murray 2, Thompson); Mars (Isaacs 4, Vargo)
