Following a tough loss, there's usually no grey area in terms of how a young team will respond it's either going to be positive or negative.

After coming up short against rival Shenandoah Valley on Saturday, Marian was able to convincingly respond in a positive fashion against Mahanoy Area in a Schuylkill League game. The Fillies eventually pulled away from the Lady Bears in another competitive contest and were victorious, 48-29."Our effort was very good, our execution not so much," said Marian head coach Paul Brutto. "I'm happy with the effort, we played very hard. We wanted to slow them down and went with a "2-2-1" which worked like a charm at times, and we created some turnovers."Brutto's squad used its defensive tenacity to turn some defense into offense, as Marian forced 24 Mahanoy turnovers throughout the game. Four of those turnovers were "five-second" violations, thanks to impressive defense form two young Fillies who are appear to be growing with confidence due to increased minutes on the floor."Gianna (Agosti) and Jill (Correale) both came in and did a nice job as freshmen," said Brutto. "They were both responsible for the five-second calls. I was pleased with the defensive effort. "Perhaps Marian wasn't as efficient as usual in the first half, but Mahanoy played some stifling defense as wellholding the Fillies to just 18 first-half points."Our defense in the first half was tremendous," said Mahanoy Area head coach Tim Sheeler. "We were right in it. We weren't giving up second-chance shots and our help side defense was always there.Our youth showed at some points in the game. There were times when we didn't look inside enough, but we're getting there. We need two more wins to get to districts. If we get in, I feel that we can be competitive with anybody."Mahanoy's youth might have made things difficult at times, but one young Lady Bear that was truly impressive despite the loss was freshman point guard Megan Bisco. Bisco led Mahanoy with a team-high ten points and showed much poise as a young point guard in a big Schuylkill League road game.The girls' effort has been there all year, and it was there tonight," explained Sheeler. "They knew we were in for a fight. It's definitely a great bunch of kids. They come everyday and work hard. I can't say enough about how proud I am of them."Marian's lead was just six points at one point during the third quarter. However, the Fillies eventually pulled away, as some of their reliable scoring options came up big for Brutto in the second half of play. Brenna Karnish, Vanessa Whitecavage, and Abby Whildin combined to score 20 of the team's 30 second-half points. Whildin led Marian with a game-high 19 points, inching closer to the 1,000-point club."We wanted to execute our offense a little bit better than we did tonight," explained the Marian coach. "That's something we've been struggling with this late in the season. We've been concerned with it because when the playoffs roll around, it's all about the half court game because it's tougher to get fast breaks and generate points that way.""The kids were upset with the way we played on Saturday (against Shenandoah) and you never know how you're going to come out the next game and respond. I thought Whildin (Abby) did a great job and had a bunch of hustle plays on rebounds and things like that, as well as her nice night on the offensive end."MAHANOY AREAM. Babinsky 1-4-6-6, M. Bisco 4-0-1-10, L. Bisco 2-0-0- 6, Levy 0-0-0-0, Conroy 1-0-0-2, K. Babinsky 0-0-0-0. Van Horn 0-0-0-0, Davidson 0-1-2-1, Byrne 0-4-4-4. TOTALS: 9-9-13-29.MARIANSalerno 0-0-0-0, Whildin 5-7-8-19, Whitecavage 3-0-0-8, Correale 0-0-0-0, Shaud 0-0-0-0, Agosti 0-0-0-0, Capparell 2-1-2-5, Raabe 0-0-0-0, Karnish 4-2-2-10, Stoyer 1-4-6-6, Mooney 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 15-14-18-48.Marian 8 10 16 14 - 48Mahanoy Area 4 7 10 8 - 29Three-pointers: Mahanoy: M. Bisco 2; Marian: Whildin 2, Whitecavage 2