SLIPPERY ROCK — A Rhoads dominated for Slippery Rock.

It just wasn't the Rhoads everyone expected.

The Mars defense plotted to hem in Rockets' senior star Jence Rhoads, and succeeded for the most part. It was Karly Rhoads, though, who got loose and got hot, leading the Slippery Rock High School girls basketball team to a 49-45 win over the Planets in the first round of the PIAA Class AAA playoffs at Morrow Field House Saturday afternoon.

"Let somebody else hurt you, and they did," said Mars coach Dave Sylvester. "We tried to get to (Karly Rhoads), but it was like everything she threw up went in. You have to give her credit. She played a good game, especially as a freshman. I give her all the credit in the world."

Karly Rhoads was 8-of-15 from the floor, 4-of-4 from the free throw line and was not shy about launching 3-pointers, some of them from beyond the college arc. She hit four of them and scored a career-high 24 points.

While her older sister was the target of a 1-3-1 zone and constant double teams designed to stop her, Karly took over for most of the game at the point and showed off some tenacity.

"Sometimes I closed my eyes on a few of those," said Slippery Rock coach Adrienne Orris, a smile beaming on her face. "She had that resiliency to keep shooting. Shooters shoot whether they miss 10 in a row or not."

Every shot the younger Rhoads made seemed to be another dagger in the Planets' heart.

Her 3-pointer with four minutes remaining in the first quarter capped a quick 7-0 run that tied the score at 14. Her deep 3-pointer with a minute gone in the third quarter gave Slippery Rock a 23-20 lead. The Rockets never trailed after that.

And her final 3-pointer midway through the fourth quarter, so deep it may as well be fired up from the high school across the street, made it a seven-point lead and sent Mars scrambling.

"That last one she made right after she missed and we got the rebound back — I saw her re-adjust her hand, and I knew that one was going in," Orris said. "She took her time and I could see how she bit her lip on that one. She wasn't going to miss it."

Karly Rhoads has been prone to wild scoring spurts this season, but this one was a little more special.

"I figured I should step up," she said. "I just had a lot of confidence. I didn't think any time I shot I was going to miss. It feels really good, especially because it's Jence's senior year. We just want to go all the way this year."

It was Slippery Rock's first state playoff win in 10 years. The last time the Rockets won a PIAA game, Orris' teammate at Grove City College, Erica Youngman, was playing for Slippery Rock.

It also was the Rockets' 11th straight win.

Despite constant attention, Jence Rhoads still managed to score 18 points, but early on, every point she got was arduous.

The senior, who is bound for Vanderbilt University, scored only six points in the first half and took a mere five shots.

Mars had the game it wanted at the break, a defensive-dominated 18-18 tie.

"They made a pretty good little run there in the third quarter, and we never recovered," Sylvester said.

Mars (24-4) shot just 35 percent from the floor. Maggie Bulman, though, was 7-of-9 from the field for a team-high 16 points.

Lily Grenci added 14 points and Haley Geyer 13. The rest of the team, though, scored just two points on 1-of-16 shooting.

It was a disappointing end of the season for the Planets, who went 22-2 in the regular season, but lost two of its final four games.

"Sometimes you do it, sometimes you don't," Sylvester said. "This just wasn't our time. I thanked them for the season and the couple of good years I had here. Life goes on. The sun will come up tomorrow."

The sun is still very much in the sky for Slippery Rock (19-9), which will face District 6 champion Lewistown, which needed a late 3-pointer to topple Ringgold 61-60, at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Central Cambria High School in Ebensburg.

Lewistown has won four state championships in the last 10 seasons.

"We have a lot of the pieces to the puzzle," Orris said. "Everyone always focuses on Jence, but I'm proud of everyone who steps out on the floor because we need five girls. We've been working on strengthening our weakest points. We're getting there. Four more games to the state title."

MARS 45Megan Gibson 0-6 0-0 0, Maggie Bulman 7-9 1-2 16, Haley Geyer 5-16 2-2 13, Lily Grenci 6-13 2-4 14, Cara Hudac 0-6 0-0 0, Karly Takach 1-4 0-0 2.

Totals: 19-54 5-8 45

SLIPPERY ROCK 49Jence Rhoads 6-15 5-6 18, Emma Walter 0-0 0-0 0, Karly Rhoads 8-15 4-4 24, Sarah Cessar 0-5 4-6 4, Kourtney Rhoads 1-7 0-0 3, Jenna Rinker 0-0 0-0 0, Ali Doyle 0-0 0-0 0.

Totals: 15-42 13-16 49

Mars 9 9 16 11—45Slippery Rock 8 10 21 10—493-point goals: Mars (Bulman); Slippery Rock 6 (Jence Rhoads, Karly Rhoads 4, Kourtney Rhoads)

Wednesday: Slippery Rock vs. Lewistown, 7:30 p.m. @ Central Cambria H.S.