JEFFERSON TWP — Olivia Donnelly had trouble seeing. Her hearing was just fine.

It was the latter that helped Mars hold off Hampton, 36-33, in a WPIAL 5A girls basketball consolation game Monday night at Knoch High School.

The Planet senior lost a contact lens during the game and never did find it.

“I got scratched in an eye, too,” Donnelly said. “I couldn’t see too well from that point. But I figured I could fight my way through. This was against a rival and that makes it a little more personal.”

A three-point play by freshman Alexis Cashdollar gave the Planets (17-7) a 35-33 lead with 2:56 remaining. It was the fourth lead change of the night. The game was also tied on four occasions and neither team ever held a double-digit lead.

Mars continually clung to that two-point advantage as time whittled down. Hampton (16-8) gained possession after the Planets missed the front end of a one-and-one with 20.6 seconds to play. With 6.8 seconds left, Mars’ Laura Atwell blocked a Talbot layup event, knocking the ball out of bounds.

Donnelly then stole the inbounds pass and was fouled with 4.9 seconds on the clock. She sank one of two free throws. Out of timeouts, the Talbots could only get off a desperation shot from just over halfcourt as time expired.

“Defense is a big part of what we do,” Mars coach Dana Petruska said. “I know I keep saying this, but we haven’t had Alexa McDole all year and her presence on the court opened up a lot of things for us offensively.

“Without her, we have to find other ways to win games.”

On this night, Donnelly used her ears.

“I heard them call out a play (on that final inbound) and I recognized it,” she said. “I knew where they were going to go with the ball and got myself in position to get the ball. When we’re not scoring, we feel like we can always rely on our defense.”

Mars used a 10-0 run to assume a 14-7 lead early in the second quarter. Hampton responded with a 9-0 run of its own for a 16-124 advantage with two minutes left in the half. From there, neither team ever led by more than four points.

The teams split their regular season meetings, Mars winning 56-55 at Hampton, the Talbots claiming a 58-53 win at Mars.

“We figured this would come down to the last one or two possessions,” Hampton coach Tony Howard said. “Our two teams are pretty evenly matched.

“This being a consolation game, it seemed like neither team wanted to be here at the start. Play was sluggish and sloppy in the first quarter. I know we missed some opportunities there.”

Cashdollar scored a season-high 11 points to lead the Planets. She had seven rebounds as well and completed a three-point play with three seconds left in the third quarter to give the Planets a 28-27 lead heading into the fourth.

“They were playing off me, figuring I couldn’t shoot,” Cashdollar said. “I had to take advantage of that. I saw chances to score and we needed the points.”

Donnelly had eight points, six rebounds and two assists for Mars. Vita Vargo scored seven points, grabbed nine rebounds and had two assists.

Meghan Murray led Hampton with 10 points and four assists. Claire Rodgers had nine points and five boards, but the Talbots were out-rebounded, 32-20.

“That was a big factor tonight. We didn’t give them second-chance opportunities,” Petruska said.

Mars will play Penn Trafford Trinity — a ??-?? winner over Penn Trafford Trinity — in the WPIAL 5A fifth-place game Thursday night.

HAMPTON 33

Kathleen Milon 0-7 4-5 4, Claire Rodgers 4-7 0-0 9, Meghan Murray 4-18 0-0 10, Sterling Thomson 3-7 0-0 6, Emma Rick 2-2 0-0 4. Totals: 13-41 4-4 33.

MARS 36

Ava Day 0-2 0-0 o, Vita Vargo 1-4 4-6 7, Alexis Cashdollar 4-9 3-4 11, Lauren Atwell 1-6 4-4 6, Cecilia Christy 0-2 0-0 0, Olivia Donnelly 3-8 1-2 8, Carmella McDole 2-2 0-0 4. Totals: 11-33 12-16 36.

Hampton 7 9 11 6 — 33

Mars 7 9 12 8 — 36

3-point goals: Hampton 3 (Rodgers, Murray 2), Mars 2 (Vargo, Donnelly)

Thursday: WPIAL 5th-place game-Mars vs. Penn Trafford-Trinity winner, site and time TBA