Mars girls persevere in 1st-round win over Woodland Hills

By: William Whalen
Tuesday, February 19, 2019 | 11:05 PM

The postseason has a way of exposing both the good and bad in teams, and Tuesday night was no exception for Mars girls basketball.

All season, the Fightin’ Planets have been inconsistent. Starting games slow, falling into shooting ruts and, at times, just flat-out disappearing. All of that was on display Tuesday night.

The No. 7-seeded Fightin’ Planets charged out of the gate took a commanding lead, trailed late and then made a comeback to pick up a 56-50 win over No. 10 Woodland Hills in the first round of the WPIAL Class 5A playoffs at Hampton.

“We nodded off for two quarters,” Mars coach Dana Petruska said. “I loved how they didn’t have a complete meltdown, and they were able to regroup. Especially when they went ahead and took the lead on us when we had such a big lead at the beginning of the game.”

The win moved Mars (18-5) into the quarterfinals and sets up a rematch of last season’s WPIAL semifinal game with No. 2 Oakland Catholic (19-3) this Saturday at a site and time to be determined. The Eagles, who are coming off a first-round bye, downed Mars, 48-44, to end the Planets’ WPIAL postseason run last season.

The loss marked the second straight season Woodland Hills (12-11) failed to make it out of the first round.

“We had our opportunities,” Woodland Hills coach Von Pitts said. “When we made opportunities, it was our defense. In the end, it was that five-minute stretch (when) we didn’t score.”

The Wolverines had the defending PIAA Class 5A champs on the ropes. After trailing by 13 points at the end of the first quarter, the Wolverines switched from a 1-3-1 to a man-to-man defense.

The Wolverines battled all the way back and took their first lead when freshman Jazmyn Fisher drained her second-consecutive 3-pointer from the left elbow for a 38-36 lead with 1 minute, 25 seconds left on the third-quarter clock. Junior Nya Morris banged home another long ball to end the quarter, giving the Wolverines a 41-38 lead and sending the Woodland Hills fans into a frenzy.

“That game could have went one of two ways, we could’ve got blown out, tucked our tails and quit, and we did what we normally do and we fought,” Pitts said.

Mars senior standout Tai Johnson, a Bucknell commit, connected on two free throws early in the fourth quarter and junior swingman Bella Pelaia drove baseline for a layup to give the Fightin’ Planets the lead back at 42-41. Johnson scored a game-high 23 points, and Pelaia finished with 16.

“We knew they were a good team so we did what we had to do,” Pelaia said. “When they were catching back up, we knew that we couldn’t hesitate, so we just kept attacking. We knew we had it the whole time, and if we just kept working we would get it.”

Morris scored on a short jumper and sophomore Peyton Pinkney scored on a nice turnaround jumper to give the Wolverines the lead at 45-42 with just over 6 minutes remaining. Pinkney led Woodland Hills with 17 points.

After Woodland Hills’ 9-2 run to end the third quarter, the shooting went cold after Pinkney’s basket. The Mars offensive attack caught fire after a Pelaia layup. Johnson swished home two free throws before the Mars offense stalled to kill the clock.

“When we started to make shots, they started missing them,” Petruska said. “It was like the pressure was put back on them.”

Mars was unstoppable in the first quarter. Johnson, Pelaia and Alek Johnson all connected on 3-pointers to start the game. For a team that has struggled early in games all season, it looked like Mars might put together a complete game. That was not the case.

Once the first-quarter buzzer sounded, two different teams took to the court to start the second quarter. The Wolverines outscored Mars, 14-6, in the second quarter. Pinkney and Micah Fluker-Dean paced the Woodland Hills offense en route to a slim 26-21 lead.

Petruska didn’t care much about how it looked, just that her team is moving on.

“We got to take care of business,” Petruska said. “We’ll see what happens, and we’ll prepare and hope for the best (against Oakland Catholic).”

William Whalen is a freelance writer.

Tags: Mars, Woodland Hills