3 times the fun
Bresnahan records triple-double in Butler win over NH


By John Enrietto
Eagle Sports Editor


BUTLER TWP— For the second time in three days, the
Butler girls basketball team put away a game in the first quarter.
But the Olivia Bresnahan Show was just beginning.
The freshman point guard secured a triple-double Monday night — scoring 15 points and grabbing 12 steals and 11 rebounds — in the Golden Tornado's 46-25 triumph over North Hills.
Bresnahan was called upon to fill a bigger role on the court Monday when senior guard Maria Baroffio missed the game with a sprained ankle.
"I talked to Olivia before the game about having to step up her game — then she did it,"
Butler coach Dorothea Epps said. "Forget the freshman stuff. She's just a very good player who is only going to get better.
"She reminds me a lot about Amy (Achesinski) when she was a freshman. She just wants to learn all she can about the game and she already knows basketball so well."
Achesinski paced the Tornado with 19 points and added seven rebounds of her own Monday. The senior center now has 1,433 career points with five regular season games remaining.
The Tornado (15-3, 5-2) won their third straight game with a quick opening quarter. North Hills (4-15, 0-8) turned the ball over 10 times in the first eight minutes as
Butler used a 12-0 run to grab a 14-2 lead.
Bresnahan was in the middle of that spurt, sinking an 8-footer off a turnover and two layups off transition plays. The latter bucket came off a Bresnahan steal near mid-court. She laid the ball in just before the buzzer.
Butler's biggest lead of the night reached 34-9 with 4:47 left in the third quarter.
The Tornado had a 28-16 edge in rebounds. North Hills had 22 turnovers to
Butler's 14.
North Hills dropped its fifth straight game and also has gone five consecutive contests without a player reaching double-digits in scoring.
"If you don't have an all-section player and somebody pretty good to accompany her in this section, it's brutal,"Indians coach Tom Sandherr said.
Formerly the junior varsity coach, Sandherr replaced George Vlassich as North Hills' head coach five games into the regular season. Vlassich resigned for family reasons.
The Indians are 2-12 under Sandherr.
After scoring 28 points in the first half,
Butler sank only three of 18 shots from the floor in the second half.
""I wanted us to get off to a quick start tonight, and we did," Epps said. "Teams like North Hills can be dangerous because they're coming in here with nothing to lose."
Butler's junior varsity (18-0) took care of business with a 44-23 victory.
NORTHHILLS 25
Tara Veverka 2-4 2-2 6, Katie Wilson 2-3 0-1 4, Gabrielle Marshall 2-7 1-2 5, Alison Wahl 0-2 0-0 0, Chrissy Harding 0-0 0-0 0, Juli O'Connell 0-3 0-0 0, Courtney Waters 1-3 0-0 2, Bethany Alabek 3-5 0-0 6, Jamie Harkness 1-7 0-0 2. Totals: 11-34 3-5 25
BUTLER 46
Rachel Barry 0-6 3-4 3, Karissa King 0-4 0-0 0, Olivia Bresnahan 4-8 7-14 15, Becky Smith 0-1 0-0 0, Liz Schultz 0-3 0-0 0, Katherine Sylvia 1-1 0-0 2, Amy Achesinski 7-11 5-6 19, Erica Miller 1-4 1-2 3, Rachel Doutt 1-2 0-0 2, Jenna Manuel 0-1 0-0 0, Ashley Onufrak 1-1 0-0 2. Totals: 15-42 16-28 46
North Hills 2 7 6 10—25
Butler 14 14 9 9—46
3-point goals:
None
JV: Butler, 44-23 (B-Jenna Manuel 12, Becky Smith 9; NH-Tara Veverka 6)