This season's Mars girls' basketball is much different than the 2006-07 version. But the Planets are hoping there are a couple similarities.

Mars went 24-4, won the Section 1-AAA title and advanced to the WPIAL quarterfinals last season. The Planets had four starters graduate and Tony Howard was hired in June to replace coach Dave Sylvester.

Those are a lot of changes in a short period of time.

"We got to work a couple days a week throughout summer, got to go to two team camps during the summer and then played in a fall league," Howard said. "[But] the offseason was really good. The girls' character and work ethic was unbelievable."

"We've been playing really well together," said Lily Grenci, a junior/forward and the lone returning starter. "Everything is coming together well."

The early returns have been better than expected.

Mars (3-1) won the North Allegheny tournament title by defeating two Class AAAA teams this past weekend, the host school and Woodland Hills. The Planets also defeated previously unbeaten Apollo-Ridge, 61-32, in their home opener Monday. Mars lost to defending PIAA Class AAA champion Hopewell Tuesday, 47-43, on the Vikings' floor.

Howard was an assistant for the Hampton boys' team the past nine season and is a 13-year coaching veteran.

"I just decided I wanted to start looking for my own program," Howard said. "I learned a lot under [Hampton coach] Joe Lafko and what he had done with the boys there."

The Planets attended the Gannon University team camp only a week after Howard was hired and later in the summer went to the Robert Morris University team camp.

"It was a great offseason," Grenci said. "I think [Howard] has been great. He came in and we all started working hard. He gives us a lot of his time, and he pushes us very hard. "That's good because he wants to win and we want to win. He's a great guy. We really like him."

Howard prefers a man-to-man, aggressive defense.

Of Mars' five starters, Howard considers three of them to be guard/forwards, so the Planets believe they can create, then exploit some matchup problems.

In addition to Grenci, senior Tori Gressang, senior guard/forward Karly Takach, sophomore guard/forward Elaine Hasek and senior forward Ellen Kenitz comprise the starting lineup.

Mars doesn't have a true point guard, but Howard said the Planets have enough players with ballhandling skills that he isn't concerned.

Kenitz, Mars' top post presence, was the leading scorer in the win against Woodland Hills. But the Planets figure to be a team that gets scoring from several sources.

Greci led the team in scoring last season by averaging more than 15 points per game. She also averaged 10 rebounds per contest.

"Lily is kind of our constant in the whole thing," Howard said. "She has the experience as a returning starter. She's versatile and has had a lot of success doing all sorts of things to help a team win.

"Lily will probably be our leading scorer most of the year, but we're looking for a little more balance because we don't want to be one-dimensional."

Grenci said she is ready to take on a leadership role. Howard is pleased with her as well at the team's intangibles.

"The character has been tremendous overall," Howard said. "The girls' work ethic and commitment and dedication has made this go smoothly. We have differing personalities, we have girls that played varsity last year and girls that played JV last year.

"It took time to jell and get their games together. But they've worked at it together. We really have a very difficult opening season schedule but they seem ready to meet that challenge."

Despite all the changes, the Planets believe they can be as competitive as last season among a Section 1-AAA field that is deep and strong.

"We want to win our section [title]," Grenci said. "We have a tough schedule but we want to win it and go into the playoffs and do well once the playoffs start ... advance further than we have in the past."