Although the Mary Star High girls basketball team felt it did enough to warrant a case for an at-large spot in the CIF-Southern Section Division V-AA playoffs, hopes were fading away after a 54-47 loss to St. Bernard of Playa Del Rey on Tuesday.

With Santa Fe League co-leading St. Pius X/St. Matthias of Downey coming to the Stars' gymnasium, already boasting a blowout victory in the first meeting between the two, Mary Star was faced with the pressure of a must-win game, but they reversed the pressure right back at the Warriors.

Playing its best game of the year in their final regular season game, Mary Star would produce a strong second half to knock off visiting St. Pius X/St. Matthias, 48-33 on Thursday to solidify their claim for their first playoff berth in six years, and also prevent the Warriors from garnering a share of the Santa Fe League title, as St. Genevieve of Panorama City wins the league crown outright.

The feeling of the Stars (13-9 overall, 5-5 league) after the victory could only be summed up in one word.

"Indescribable," Mary Star senior guard Marina Vitalich said with glee. "I'm so proud of my team. We came out with the 'we have to win' mentality and that's exactly what we did. Everyone knows how much winning this game meant to me as a senior, and they came out and performed."

Vitalich, the veteran of the group, has saw the program sink to its lowest of lows just two years ago as a sophomore but in two years, are slowly progressing into the program that has won a total of 12 league titles.

"I planned to leave everything out on the court and do everything I could to earn the victory for our seniors," said sophomore guard Angela Pisano, who scored a game-high 25 points to go with 4 rebounds and 3 steals. "I'm lucky to have amazing teammates to play basketball with and tonight's win made us feel united as one."

Both Vitalich and Pisano were definitely united as one in the wackiest of plays, and on the receiving end, it was Mary Star sophomore forward Amanda Vitalich, Marina's sister.

St. Pius X/St. Matthias freshman guard Mariah Mora missed a bank shot, which Marina grabbed for one of her game-high 15 rebounds, then fired a long outlet pass that sailed over Pisano's head. Pisano chased it down and tried to shoot it over the backboard as her momentum carried her out of bounds, but luckily Amanda was in the right place at the right time, and she took the unintentional pass and scored.

"I had so much momentum and I knew I had to somehow save the ball," Pisano said. "I'm thankful that Amanda was there to finish it."

That signature play came with 2:36 left in the third quarter and capped off an 10-0 run that started with a three-pointer by Marina. "That was pretty cool," Marina said of her sister Amanda's only basket of the game. "It was a good thing Amanda was right there to retrieve it and it only continued our momentum."

Mary Star's third quarter where they outscored the Warriors (16-8, 8-2) 16-6, helped break open a close game, in which the Stars held a 23-20 halftime lead. The Stars would pull away in the fourth quarter and took a lead as big as 18, when freshman guard Hanalei Emnace's three-pointer stretched their lead to 44-26 with 5:17 remaining. Emnace scored all six of her points in the final eight minutes to seal the deal.

"Hanalei is smart, ambitious and has a bright future at Mary Star," Pisano said. "Her points contributed greatly for us tonight."

The victory for Mary Star gained retribution for losing 66-40 to St. Pius X/St. Matthias in the first meeting back on January 29. The Stars will await their playoff fate when the CIF-Southern Section basketball pairings for Division V-AA will be announced on Sunday at 1 pm.

(Note: Photo by Dan Pronovost)