Fishing for a playoff spot
Butler girls get clutch 39-37 win over North Hills
By Mike Kilroy
Eagle
Staff Writer
BUTLER TWP — The Butler girls basketball team has a fish named Kevin swimming
happily in a small tank in the high school training room.
After every win, they feed
Kevin.
Kevin has been well-fed
this season.
Kevin is healthy and strong
and so is Butler's playoff prospects after a gutsy 39-37 home win over North
Hills Monday night.
“It was a mature win,” said
Butler coach Joe Lewandowski. “This was one of those mature wins you typically
get when you have seniors on the floor, but we did it with freshmen and
sophomores and juniors.”
Butler (10-5, 3-3) has no
seniors on the roster.
What the Tornado do have,
though, is a knack for bringing a player off the bench to contribute mightily
to a win.
Monday night it was Jordan
Kaufman.
The freshman hit a 3-pointer
at the second-quarter buzzer to give Butler a 22-21 lead at the half. In the
fourth quarter, she hit another 3 to give the Golden Tornado a 38-32 lead with
five minutes remaining.
Butler's defense did the
rest.
“She gave us six points,
two big 3s,” Lewandowski said. “Every bucket was big tonight.”
Both teams hit 13 field
goals and made seven free throws. The difference was Butler had two more made
3-pointers — from Kaufman.
Alyssa Eyth and Jenna Kunst
were also difference-makers for the Tornado.
Eyth had a huge third
quarter with both of her 3-pointers and eight of her team-leading 14 points.
Kunst had a big second quarter with nine of her 12 points.
Kunst also had nine
rebounds.
“I thought Jenna and Alyssa
were terrific,” Lewandowski said. “They knew we needed tough baskets and both
of them did it.”
Butler fell behind 10-5
early, but stormed back to take a 13-12 lead on a 3 by Mia Rader.
After that, the lead
switched hands four times and the game was tied six times.
Butler, though, closed out
the game with its defense.
North Hills (7-9, 1-5) got
a 3-pointer from Kristen Collins to make it 38-37 with 3:30 remaining, but
didn't score again.
With the ball and trailing
by 2 with 2.5 seconds left, the Indians tried to set up a play to get a
back-door layup, but Butler thwarted it.
Collins threw up a
desperation 3 instead that missed the mark.
“All you can ask for is an
opportunity and we had a few opportunities (before the last possession),
actually,” said North Hills coach Lauren Wilmus. “We're still kind of searching
for that one kid to step up. We're lacking that right now.”
What Butler isn't lacking
right now is confidence.
A year after winning just
three games, the Golden Tornado now have that many section wins.
A victory on the road at
Shaler Thursday will go a long way toward cementing a playoff spot for the
Tornado.
“Now let's see if we can
steal another one,” Lewandowski said.
And get Kevin another
victory meal.
NORTH HILLS 37
Jordan O'Malley 2-6 2-3 6,
Jess Bowen 2-5 2-2 6, Savannah Powers 0-1 0-0 0, Skyler Swartzbaugh 1-7 0-0 2,
Anna Treser 3-9 3-4 9, Kristen Collins 5-12 0-0 14. Totals: 13-40 7-9 37.
BUTLER 39
Mia Rader 2-5 0-1 5, Alyssa
Eyth 6-9 0-0 14, Kylee Lewandowski 0-7 2-4 2, Jenna Kunst 3-9 5-5 12, Sydney
Hanratty 0-0 0-0 0, Julia Gibson 0-1 0-0 0, Emilee Altman 0-1 0-0 0, Jordan
Kaufman 2-5 0-2 6. Totals: 13-37 7-12 39.
North Hills 6 15 8 8 — 37
Butler3 19 10 7 — 39
3-point goals: North Hills
4 (Collins 4); Butler 6 (Eyth 2, Junst, Rader, Kaufman 2)