Adversity doesn't bother Butler
Lady Tornado win 4th straight

By John Enrietto
Eagle Sports Editor

BUTLER TWP — Changing of the guard is inevitable in high school athletics.
But not this way.
Prior to Butler's girls basketball game with Shady Side Academy Saturday night, the Golden Tornado learned that point guard Lyndsy Day will miss the entire season because of knee surgery.
During the junior varsity game that evening, Butler lost junior guard Mackenzie Greenert — presumably for the season— with a knee injury as well.
Freshman point guard Olivia Bresnahan scored 11 points in the varsity game as Butler (6-1) cruised to its fourth straight victory, 55-30. Ten Tornado players scored in the game.
"Olivia's been playing very well and, yeah, she becomes a bit more of a focal point now," Butler coach Dorothea Epps said. "But we talked to the team about adversity. It's all in how you handle it.
"We still have a team capable of winning a lot of games."
They showed that Saturday night. After watching Shady Side score during a deliberate first possession, Butler reeled off 14 consecutive points and maintained a double-digit lead for the rest of the night.
Rachel Barry and Bresnahan sank lay-ups after steals and Karissa King buried a 3-pointer during the uprising. Amy Achesinski also scored on a pair of lay-ups.
Achesinski led Butler with 12 points, all in the first half as Epps made liberal use of her bench during the final two quarters. Butler's lead peaked at 49-17 at the end of the third quarter when Erica Miller sank a buzzer-beating trey.
Miller is one of the guards who will see more minutes because of the injuries.
"Mackenzie was going to get more varsity minutes when we found out Lyndsy was out,"Epps said. "Now Maria Baroffio will handle the ball more, Miller and King will get more time, we'll shuffle our lineup when necessary to let Rachel Barry play some minutes at guard.
"We're versatile enough to overcome this."
Butler's lead was big enough to overcome a Shady Side fourth-quarter rally. The Tornado suffered only nine turnovers in the first three quarters before turning it over nine times in the fourth quarter alone.
Shady Side (1-5)had 19 turnovers in the first three periods, only two in the fourth and won the final quarter, 13-6.
"That's something positive we can take out of this,"Shady Side coach Amy Szlacetka said. "We knew this would be a tough one on our schedule. Their coach was using the end of her bench and I wanted my girls to win the fourth quarter."
Shady Side graduated seven seniors from a Class AAteam that finished 24-5 last year, reaching the PIAAquarterfinals.
"We like to play up in class and our athletic director likes to schedule gasmes in gyms we might be playing in during the playoffs,"Szlacetka said. "Butler impressed me, especially with the way they play defense."
Katie Sheerer, one of two returning starters for the visitors, led Shady Side with nine points.
Butler had a 24-14 edge in rebounds, Achesinski and Becky Smith grabbing four each. The Tornado begin section play tonight at North Hills.
"I looked at this as a trap game, one in which we might not be sharp in,"Epps admitted. "We wanted to come out, grab a big lead early and rest some people for our section opener. I was pleased we were able to do that.
"Our fourth quarter was shaky, but those girls on the floor gained some valuable minutes. We're finding out you never know when you're gonna need somebody."

SHADYSIDEACADEMY30
Laura Daigneau 0-2 4-4 4, Katie Sheerer 4-8 0-0 9, Kelsey Olander 3-5 1-3 7, Hannah Foster 0-2 0-0 0, Raediah Lyles 3-9 0-0 6, Jenny Briston 2-4 0-0 4, Maria McPherson 0-1 0-0 0, Yanna Cox-Taylor 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 12-32 5-7 30
BUTLER55
Rachel Barry 4-6 0-0 8, Karissa King 3-6 0-0 7, Olivia Bresnahan 5-7 1-2 11, Becky Smith 0-1 2-2 2, Liz Schultz 0-0 1-2 1, Amy Achesinski 6-7 0-0 12, Maria Baroffio 1-5 2-2 5, Erica Miller 2-3 0-0 5, Katherine Sylvia 1-1 0-0 2, Jenna Manuel 0-1 0-0 0, Ashley Onufrak 0-0 0-0 0, Kayla Gilliland 1-2 0-0 2. Totals: 23-39 6-8 55

Shady Side 8 5 4 13—30
Butler 18 16 15 6—55
3-point goals: Sheerer; King, Baroffio, Miller
JV: Butler, 44-12 (B-Katherine Sylvia 10, Kayla Gilliland 10)