Winning ugly
Butler girls survive scrap with upset-minded Raiders

By John Enrietto
Eagle Sports Editor

BUTLER TWP— Seneca Valley got the shot it wanted, but not the result.
And as a result, Butler escaped with a 48-45 girls basketball victory Monday night, the Golden Tornado's sixth straight win.
And its ugliest one.
"No doubt, this is the worst game we've played this year, but we found a way to get it done,"Butler coach Dorothea Epps said. "That's the good part."
The bad part was the Tornado (7-1, 3-0) sank just 13 of 42 shots from the floor and missed six free throws in the fourth quarter — just enough to keep the Lady Raiders (2-5, 0-3) within a possession.
Butler never led by more than six while Seneca Valley never led by more than one all night. The score was tied four times and changed hands four times in the second half alone.
"We played hard and so did they,"Seneca Valley coach Kelly Mathews said. "If you would have told me we weren't going to have Catherine Messmer and Jackie Mangola for close to two quarters, I'd have thought we'd lose by 20.
"That's my leading scorer and top two rebounders on the bench."
Messmer and Mangola got in early foul trouble while a third Raider starter, guard Aly Eagle, fouled out with 2:06 to play.
Still, Seneca Valley trailed only 46-45 as Butler's Erica Miller stepped to the free throw line with 13.4 seconds left.
Miller missed the first shot and made the second. The Raiders called timeout, then executed a play in an attempt to tie the game.
"We couldn't have drawn up a better play,"Mathews said. "Megan (Gebrosky) and Cath (Messmer) are my two best ballhandlers."
Gebrosky quickly dribbled the ball up the floor and dished off to a wide-open Messmer at the foul line. Messmer drove to the hoop for an uncontested lay-up — which rolled off the rim.
"They got off an open shot ... Thank goodness it rolled off,"Epps said.
Messmer immediately fouled Butler's Olivia Bresnahan, who grabbed the rebound, with 4.5 seconds left. Bresnahan sank one of two free throws, but Mangola's desperation 3-point attempt from just beyond midcourt fell well short of the hoop at the buzzer.
"This is a rivalry and we knew they were gonna come in here ready to play,"Epps said of Seneca Valley. "Those girls have a lot of pride."
The five teams to defeat Seneca Valley this season have combined for only two losses thus far.
"They have a very deceptive record,"Epps said.
Bresnahan paced Butler with 15 points and added five rebounds. Miller led the Tornado with six rebounds as Butler held a 32-26 advantage on the boards.
Kelsey Patsilevas had 12 points and five rebounds for Seneca Valley. Nicole Roche contributed 12 points off the bench.
The Raiders had 18 turnovers, but none in the final quarter. Butler had 17 turnovers, three in the final period.
"Their guard play off the bench was a big difference in this game,"Mathews said. "We didn't play that well defensively."
Butler attempted 30 free throws to Seneca Valley's eight, but Mathews wasn't about to use that alibi.
"We did enough things wrong to lose tonight," she said. "In a game like this, there were probably 30 plays that could have decided it."
Casie Cygan disrupted two SVbreakaway layup attempts with less than two minutes to go. Katherine Sylvia grabbed an offensive rebound off a missed free throw with 38 seconds left, then made one of two free throws for Butler.
"That rebound was huge,"Epps said. "I had just read the girls a poem about how everyone on the team contributes in a different way.
"There were examples of that tonight."
Butler's junior varsity improved to 7-0 with a 61-29 triumph.

SENECA VALLEY 45
Aly Eagle 1-3 0-0 3, Megan Gebrosky 4-8 0-0 8, Kelsey Patsilevas 4-14 1-2 12, Jackie Mangola 0-4 4-4 4, Catherine Messmer 2-3 0-0 4, Alyssa Miller 0-1 0-0 0, Shayna Elser 1-1 0-2 2, Nicole Roche 6-8 0-0 12. Totals: 18-42 5-8 45
BUTLER 48
Lyndsy Day 2-6 3-4 7, Olivia Bresnahan 4-9 7-12 15, Karissa King 0-4 1-2 1, Katherine Sylvia 0-1 1-2 1, Erica Miller 2-5 1-2 6, Casie Cygan 2-9 3-4 9, Rachel Doutt 1-1 0-0 2, Jenna Manuel 1-2 0-0 2, Kayla Gilliland 1-5 3-4 5. Totals: 13-42 19-30 48

Seneca Valley 8 15 13 9—45
Butler 10 14 14 10—48
3-point goals: Eagle, Patsilevas 3; Miller, Cygan 2
JV: Butler, 61-29 (B-Amanda Dymun 14, Casey Fleeger 13, Jenna Manuel 10, SV-Paige Tretter 8