Tornado girls trounce Brashear

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By John Enrietto
Eagle Sports Editor

BUTLER TWP — The mission for Butler's starters was clear:Get off the floor as quickly as possible.
Mission accomplished.
The Golden Tornado girls basketball team jumped on overmatched Brashear for a 20-point lead in the first five minutes Wednesday night, setting the tone for a 73-21 victory in the first round of the Butler Christmas Tournament.
Butler (9-1) has won seven consecutive games and faces Penn Hills — a 55-28 winner over South Park — in the title game at 6 p.m. today.
"We wanted to put this game away early so we could get our starters out and let the other girls play,"Butler coach Dorothea Epps said. "And that's what we did.
"You don't take any opponent for granted. We practiced once over the past few days off and gave the girls three days off. That always makes a coach nervous when they come back."
Such nervousness was short-lived on this night.
When Karissa King canned a layup with 1:36 left in the first quarter, Butler had built a 30-4 lead. Epps was already freely using her entire bench.
Brashear (1-8) averages only 28 points per game.
"They were simply much bigger and stronger than we were,"Brashear coach Bob Fazio said. "We don't have any big girls and we couldn't stop them."
Eleven different players scored for Butler. Amy Achesinski led the Tornado with 16 points, and Rachel Barry added 13 points, four steals and three assists. Freshman point guard Olivia Bresnahan had 12 points, all in the first half.
Liz Schultz had five rebounds and Butler had a 27-20 edge on the boards. The visiting Bulls had 28 turnovers to the Tornado's six.
"Because we haven't been in the gym much lately, we had to get our starters to run a little bit tonight,"Epps said. "We walked a fine line there because you don't want to embarrass anybody. That does no good for either team.
"When girls off the bench come in and score a couple of baskets, ... it's a confidence thing. We got some of that tonight."