Cruise control
ADAMS TWP — In last week's loss to Hampton, Mars appeared to outrun itself.
Against Valley, the Planets wanted to play a little more under control.
Mars raced out to a 19-0 lead and cruised to a 70-33 Section 1-AAA victory over the Vikings on Monday.
“We were going 100 miles an hour against Hampton,” said Mars coach Tony Howard. “Against Valley, we wanted to slow it down. We played together as a unit, and we shared the ball all around.”
Mars received 20 points from Ali Goetz and 14 from Randi Francis. In all, six Planets had six points or more and nine different players scored.
“We have been working on that,” Howard said. “We're looking for five girls who can score and take shots.”
Mars (5-9, 3-1) opened the scoring with a 3-pointer by Francis, who posted 13 first-half points. The Planets then kept scoring at a furious rate.
When Teresa Dallatore stole the ball in the backcourt and scored easily on a layup, Mars enjoyed a 19-0 lead with 1:35 remaining in the first quarter.
“That wasn't our starting lineup,” said Vikings coach Jeff Cheatham. “We didn't have our regular lineup in because of missed practices and other things.
“We got our heads down early. The bottom line was (Mars) was the better team. ... No excuses, though,” Cheatham added.
Tara Shemenski scored on a pair of free throws to break the string before Francis closed out the frame with a 3-pointer. Then Goetz added consecutive baskets in the first minute of the second quarter to make it 26-2.
Mars opened up its biggest lead of the first half — 25 points at 31-6 — before Valley tried to climb back into the game.
The Vikings scored the next eight points and 12 of 15 to close the half down 34-18. Lexus Watkins sparked the run with six points while Ryleesha Vining added four points.
“We kind of took off the defensive pressure,” Howard said. “Sometimes when you play so hard, so fast, it's hard to keep it going.
“We told them at the half that we were happy to give just 18 points at the half, but we have to try and keep the intensity up and finish plays defensively,” Howard added.
A Goetz free throw opened the second-half scoring for Mars, before Vining recorded back-to-back scores to trim the margin to 13 with 6:14 left in the third quarter.
After a running layup by Mars' Jessica Bunner and two free throws by Kaylyn Iacopino made it a 37-22 contest, Mars scored the next seven points and 14 of 16 to take a 51-26 advantage with 7:29 remaining to pull away.With the Planets back into section competition, it may be the non-section play that helped to shape the squad for the rest of the season.“A week from now, we might have played three of the top-five Class AAA teams and you throw in a couple of Quad-A teams,” Howard said. “We've had a nice selection of competition. We've gotten a lot of different looks, different competition.“Now, we are a little more confident. Playing against the zone now is much easier than before,” he added.<B>VALLEY 33</B>Tara Shemenski 0 2-2 2, Lexus Watkins 3 0-0 6, Kaylyn Iacopino 2 2-2 6, Ryleesha Vining 6 2-2 14, Alontae Pitts 2 1-4 5, Jahnye Hughes 0 0-0 0, Jame Reese 0 0-0 0. <B>Totals:</B> 13 7-10 33.<B>MARS 70</B>Jessica Bunner 3 0-0 6, Teresa Dallatore 3 2-2 9, Ali Goetz 9 2-4 20, Brinsley Maughan-Evanson 2 2-2 6, Randi Francis 5 1-2 14, Sarah Getsy 4 0-0 8, Alyssa Mathews 1 1-2 3, Paige Castora 0 0-0 0, Daniella Paras 1 0-0 2, Bonnie Workman 1 0-0 2. <B>Totals:</B> 29 8-12 70.<B>Valley 2 16 8 7—33Mars 22 12 14 22—703-point goals:</B> Mars 4 (Francis 3, Dallatore).<B>Thursday:</B> Mars at Knoch
