Teams often have more questions than answers after their first game of the high school girls basketball season as they look for early signs of chemistry and teachable moments.
Mars looked like it had things figured out, like it already had played a few games, when it took the floor Monday night at Franklin Regional.
The Fightin’ Planets leaned on their backcourt to successfully ward off repeated comeback attempts by Franklin Regional and claim a 46-32 Class 5A nonsection victory in Murrysville.
“All of our girls who played tonight scored,” Mars coach Zach Stitt said. “Anytime that happens, when we’re able to get seven (girls) in the book, it’s big. It’s Game 1, and we have a long way to go but I thought we had girls step up and play great defense. They got some stops.”
Senior point guard Alexis Cashdollar, who is headed to Wake Forest as a preferred walk-on, scored a game-high 13 points for Mars (1-0), which trailed only briefly, the last time at 8-4.
Senior 6-foot-1 forward Cecilia Christy, an Elon volleyball commit, added 10 points in the victory. She made two 3-pointers.
Mars mercy-ruled Franklin Regional, 47-17, last year on opening night, so the Panthers (0-1) made some strides despite losing a number of key players to graduation and rolling out a young, new-look lineup.
The Panthers won their first section title since 1979 last winter. The new “2025” on the gym banner validated it.
This year’s team is very much in its early stages of development.
“We just have to chalk it up to inexperience tonight,” Panthers coach Bernie Pucka said. “There were some situations they saw that they need to be more prepared for. That’s on me. We have to coach them up.”
Franklin Regional did its best to stem the tide after leading early and allowing Mars to pull in front.
Mars took a 14-9 lead after the first quarter and led 28-18 at halftime.
A 13-0 run late in the first quarter spilled into the second and pushed the Fightin’ Planets lead to 22-9.
Franklin Regional scored four straight points out of a timeout to close the gap to nine, but sophomore Alayna Day hit a 3 and Mya Moore made a free throw to push the advantage to 28-13.
Senior Madelyn Catello made a 3, and 6-foot sophomore Alyssa Bridges scored inside for the Panthers to make it a 10-point game at intermission.
Mars made six 3-pointers in the first half. Planets freshman Karmella Vigliotti hit two first-half 3s.
Bridges led Franklin Regional with eight points, sophomore Katherine Yaniga added seven and Catello had six. Yaniga and Catello each made two 3s.
The Panthers managed to get the deficit under double digits late in the third, but Mars stayed in control.
Cashdollar had six in the quarter.
“She’s done a little of everything for us, so she is in a different role,” Stitt said. “She’s been like a 2-3-4 (position). She played in the paint more. She is very versatile.”
Pucka said guarding Cashdollar is easier said than done.
“We were ready for her,” he said. “We wanted to try and make their freshmen and sophomores beat us. They still got the high-low going.
“We got mercy-ruled last year at Mars. One game doesn’t define us.”
After six straight points by the Panthers, including a driving layup by freshman Isabella Roberson, it was 36-27.
But junior Vivian Black beat the buzzer to end the third and give the Planets a 38-27 lead going into the fourth.
Day hit a 3 to stretch the margin to 14 (45-31) with 1:42 left.
Franklin Regional managed just five points in the fourth.