JEFFERSON TWP — So far, so good for the Mars girls basketball team.

The Planets received 23 points from senior forward Lily Grenci in a 40-32 road win at Knoch Monday night.

At the halfway point of the Section 1-AAA schedule, Mars is perfect at 6-0 and 11-2 overall.

"Defense is where we've been most successful," said Planets coach Tony Howard. "We've held all six of our section opponents under 40 points.

"But teams are getting better, scouting us and figuring out different things to throw at us, so we have to keep working."

As for the Planets' latest victory, Mars held a 25-16 edge at halftime.

But the Knights (3-3, 9-5) battled, and when Gina Robb made good on a three-point play, Mars' lead was cut to 29-23 with 2:09 remaining in the third quarter.

Knoch then received a bucket from Lindsay MacArthur 3:30 into the final period to pull to within 34-25.

But six Knoch turnovers in the fourth quarter helped the Planets ice the game.

"Our goal was to hold Grenci to 15 points tonight and we were unable to do that," said Knights coach Curt Vasas. "We did hold her to seven points in the second half."

Grenci was 11-of-12 from the free throw line, including 8-of-9 in the first half.

"It's huge," Howard said. "It's something all of the girls have worked hard at."

Knoch was able to stay within striking distance, thanks in part to five 3-pointers, three of them coming from Haley Hutterer and a pair from Hannah Novotny.

The Planets became very deliberate on offense late in the first quarter, taking nearly two minutes off the clock with countless passes around the perimeter before Grenci scored a field goal to put her team up 12-6.

"We did that because of the foul trouble we were in," said Howard. "Both Kehle (Pelles) and Elaine (Hasek) had picked up two early fouls."

Gina Robb led the Knights with 12 points."Gina does a little bit of everything for us," said Vasas. "She may not be the purest basketball player, but she makes up for it with her aggressiveness and intensity. She's been a catalyst in a lot of games."

MARS 40Ashley Lynch 1 2-2 4, Lily Grenci 6 11-12 23, Elaine Hasek 2 2-2 6, Kehle Pelles 1 0-0 2, Maureen Cress 1 0-0 2, Alexa Lee 1 0-0 3, Ally Demetriadis 0 0-0 0.

Totals: 12 15-16 40.

KNOCH 32Hannah Novotny 2 0-0 6, Haley Hutterer 3 0-0 9, Gina Robb 5 2-3 12, Emily Protzman 0 1-2 1, Lindsay MacArthur 2 0-1 4, Sara Montgomery 0 0-0 0, Taylor Tresatti 0 0-0 0, Laura Gray 0 0-0 0.

Totals: 12 3-6 32.

Mars 12 13 6 9—40Knoch 6 10 7 9—323-point goals: Mars (Lee); Knoch 5 (Hutterer 3, Novotny 2).

JV: Mars 52-28

Thursday: Mars at Kittanning

Friday: Freeport at Knoch