MONROEVILLE— West Mifflin coach Phil Shar had plenty to be concerned about at halftime.

His team trailed by seven, two of his top six players were in foul trouble and Mars standout Lily Grenci had already posted a double-double.

"I told the girls they were going to have to play tired and play well doing it,"Shar said. "Otherwise, they would have eight months to rest up."

Shar's team responded by outscoring the Planets 33-19 in the second half, securing a 55-48 WPIALClass AAA girls basketball quarterfinal win Saturday afternoon at Gateway High School.

"Give them credit for coming out in the second half and playing much more aggressively,"Mars coach Tony Howard said. "They turned it up a notch. They took it away from us."

The Planets (18-6) will qualify for the PIAA Tournament if West Mifflin defeats Indiana in their WPIALsemifinal Tuesday night at North Hills.

"We're hoping,"Grenci said. "We're going to be there watching. We want to keep playing."

Mars played well Saturday. The Planets jumped out to a 10-1 lead in the first five minutes. Grenci had 15 points and 11 rebounds by halftime as Mars took a 29-22 advantage into the break.

After turning the ball over seven times in the first half, the Planets turned it over eight times in the third quarter alone. They had twice as many turnovers than field goal attempts in the third period.

The Titans (18-6) feasted off the mistakes and climbed back into the game. When Jacoiya Vaughn-Reid stuck back an offensive rebound with 15 seconds left in the quarter, West Mifflin had its first lead of the day at 36-35.

That lead was never lost.

"We didn't make any adjustments at halftime defensively,"Shar said. "We always play the same game. We just played harder."

Grenci picked up three personal fouls in the third quarter and was whistled for her fourth while battling for a rebound with 7:40 left in the game.

Grenci never left the floor and fueled a mini-rally midway through the final quarter. With Mars trailing 43-37, she sank a free throw, hit a jumper after a steal and drove to the hoop for a layup.

The gap was 43-42 with 3:43 left, but the Planets never could draw even. The seven-point spread at the end was West Mifflin's biggest lead of the day.

Grenci finished with 30 points and 13 rebounds for the Planets. She scored 11 points in the fourth quarter, but had only two rebounds in the second half.

"That wasn't because of the fouls," Howard said. "Once they took the lead, we had to stretch out our defense and that pulled Lily away from the hoop a little bit."

Mars had a 19-8 rebounding edge in the first half. West Mifflin had a 15-13 edge in the second half. The Planets had 18 turnovers to the Titans' six.

Alexa Lee had seven points and Kehle Pelles four rebounds for Mars, but Grenci remained the focal point of the Planets' attack.

"Three of her fouls were called offensively,"Howard said. "I don't know if I've seen that before. That's tough to take.

"We were in a zone, they were clutching and mauling, yet the (fouls) were 6-1 ... I don't know. They came out (in the second half) and attacked us."

"I do get some offensive fouls because teams will double me and I try to create space for myself," Grenci admitted. "But those calls today?I don't think they were fouls. ... But sometimes they call them."

Taylor Fulton paced West Mifflin with 18 points while Vaughn-Reid had 12. Jayla Leftwich had nine points and seven rebounds.

"She (Grenci) is a great player. But we survived,"Shar said.

MARS 48Ashley Lynch 1-4 0-0 2, Lily Grenci 9-20 12-16 30, Elaine Hasek 0-1 1-2 1, Alexa Lee 2-4 3-4 7, Kelsey Pelles 0-0 0-0 0, Kehle Pelles 2-6 1-2 5, Allyson Demetriadis 1-1 0-0 3. Totals: 15-36 17-24 48

WEST MIFFLIN 55Taylor Fulton 6-12 4-5 18, Jacoiya Vaughn-Reid 4-13 3-4 12, Monica Poupakis 1-2 3-4 6, Jessica Pitts 2-7 3-6 7, Jayla Leftwich 3-8 3-3 9, Jazmyne Hayes 1-2 1-2 3, Mackenzie Didominic 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 17-45 17-24 55

Mars 15 14 6 13—48West Mifflin 12 10 14 19—553-point goals: Demetriadis; Fulton 2, Vaugh-Reid, Poupakis