Butler
girls coast to 64-31 victory
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Butler's Cierra
Lawrence drives past Wilkinsburg's Tiaunte Anderson Friday night during
Butler's win over Wilkinsburg. |
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BUTLER TWP Once the Butler girls basketball team got
over the jitters, it got down to business.
The Golden Tornado got off to a sluggish start against
Wilkinsburg at the Butler Tip-Off Tournament, but used a swarming defense to
generate offense in a 64-31 win Friday night.
I knew there were going to be some nerves, said Butler coach
Dorothea Epps. We have a lot of young girls, and even the seniors haven't
played the last two years. I knew they would be a little bit nervous, too.
But Butler relaxed and went on a 9-0 run to end the first quarter
to take a 13-2 lead.
The Tornado advantage swelled to 30-10 at the half and Butler
seized complete control with a 26-point third quarter on the way to a
season-opening victory.
We let our defense get us easy points, Epps said. That's what
turned it around for us. They seemed to relax a lot more.
MacKenzie O'Donnell had eight of her team-leading 12 points in
the third quarter.
The junior forward was 5-of-5 from the floor in limited minutes
because of foul trouble.
Jasmine Bailey added eight points for the Tornado.
Butler, though, has a deep bench and showcased it throughout the
night.
The Tornado played 15 against Wilkinsburg and 13 of them scored
at least one point.
Natalie Barkus and Morgan McLaughlin came off the bench to score
seven points for Butler. In all, the reserves scored 29 points for the Tornado.
Butler went back to its roots with a press defense that forced 15
turnovers in the first quarter alone.
Wilkinsburg had 26 turnovers in the game.
That was our whole focus this year. That's what we worked on in
the spring, summer and even in the fall, Epps said. We knew that we had to
play better defense. That was our trademark and we had to get back to that.
The Tornado will play Hopewell in the championship game of the
Butler Tournament at 5:30 p.m. Saturday.
Hopewell jumped out to a 21-0 lead in the first four minutes of
its game against Upper St. Clair and cruised to a 72-29 win.
Vikings' junior Shatori Walker-Kimbrough scored 17 points in the
first quarter and finished with 28.
Upper St. Clair will play Wilkinsburg in the consolation game at
4 p.m. Saturday.
WILKINSBURG 31
Tiaunte Anderson 3-7 3-5 10, Shannon Delaney 3-10 4-4 12, Erica Johnson 0-7
1-2 1, Dayna White 1-2 0-0 2, LaKeisha Wright 1-4 0-0 2, Mariah Smith 0-2 0-0
0, Kenae Boyd 1-2 0-2 2, Jeanetta Chapman 0-0 2-2 2. Totals: 9-34 10-15
31.
BUTLER 64
Jennifer Barry 1-6 1-2 3, Sam Marak 0-2 4-6 4, Makenzie Huey 2-4 4-5 8,
MacKenzie O'Donnell 5-5 2-2 12, Jasmine Bailey 4-8 0-0 8, Natalie Barkus 3-5
0-0 7, Alyssa DiPippa 1-5 1-2 3, Kalynn Callihan 1-2 0-2 2, Julia Baxter 2-4
1-2 5, Morgan McLaughlin 3-3 0-0 7, Lauren Bresnahan 0-1 1-2 1, Leah Murphy 1-1
0-0 2, Ciarra Lawrence 0-0 0-0 0, Ronni Guiney 1-1 0-0 2, Kristina Friel 0-2
0-0 0. Totals: 9-34 10-15 31.
Wilkinsburg 2 8 9 1231
Butler 13 17 26 864
3-point goals: Wilkinsburg 3 (Anderson, Delaney 2);
Butler 2 (Barkus, McLaughlin).
JV score: Butler 47-9
UPPER ST. CLAIR 29
Madison Serio 2-4 0-0 5, Erika Malarkey 1-4 1-2 4, Jordan Serio 2-8 2-2 6,
Rachel Mazzie 2-6 0-2 4, Alayna Kaylor 1-7 1-2 4, Uche Lloanusi 1-3 0-0 2,
Amanda Vargo 0-1 0-0 0, Anne Steen 2-5 0-0 4, Stephanie Sortino 0-2 0-0 0. Totals:
11-40 4-8 29
HOPEWELL 72
Shaniya Rivers 2-5 5-10 10, Raquel Farris 3-4 0-0 8, Kari Steuer 3-3 0-0 6,
Jharrin Gill 7-13 0-0 15, Shatori Walker-Kimbrough 10-12 6-6- 28, Kady Becker
0-0 0-0 0, Ali Marie Santia 2-3 0-2 5, Cassidy Rizzo 0-1 0-0 0, Paige Levinger
0-0 0-0 0, Alexis Parish 0-1 0-0 0, Desirae Ritmiller 0-0 0-0 0. Totals:
27-42 11-18 72
Upper St. Clair 7 8 12 229
Hopewell 28 23 12 972
3-point goals: Upper St. Clair 3 (M. Serio, Kaylor,
Malarkey); Hopewell 7 (Rivers, Farris 2, Gill, Walker-Kimbrough 2, Santia).