BUTLER TWP — The Butler girls basketball team wanted to take care of business with a Section 3-AAAA win over Oakland Catholic Thursday night at home.

The Golden Tornado had senior point guard Alyssa DiPippa return after missing six games due to a foot injury.

DiPippa scored 12 and had two assists, but Butler was cold from the field in a 39-32 loss.

The Golden Tornado (5-8, 2-2) missed all 12 3-pointers it attempted to help the Eagles (2-9, 2-4) snap a six-game losing skid.

Butler also shot 27 percent (13-of-48) from the field.

“It's still early in the section and hopefully we learn from this,” Butler coach Dorothea Epps said. “Hopefully, we learn defensively we have to guard our own. Offensively, we have to try and put the ball in the hoop. The bunnies we missed are crucial when you're struggling to score.”

DiPippa had about a practice and a half before she played against Oakland Catholic. She scored the game's first basket and made a free throw with 5:28 left in the first quarter to put the Golden Tornado ahead 3-2.

Butler, which led 18-14 at halftime, held that lead until the fourth quarter.

“It was alright,” DiPippa said of her foot. “I had to keep my mind off of it.”

DiPippa scored on a jumper in the third to stretch the Golden Tornado lead to 27-22, its biggest of the game.

That's when Oakland Catholic rallied to its first lead.

The Eagles went on a 6-0 run, taking a 28-27 lead when Katie Kush made a trey with 6:50 remaining.

Oakland Catholic, which shot 20 percent (4-of-20) from behind the arc, was 2-of-17 in the first three quarters.

“I think it's important to not ever lose confidence in your shooters,” Eagles coach Shannon Boyle said. “Eventually, you have to hope that they'll hit it.”

After Kalynn Callihan set up DiPippa for a layup to give Butler the lead back, Kush hit another 3-pointer to put the Eagles ahead for good, 31-29, with 5:59 remaining.

“We put them in the one-and-one way to early,” Epps said. “We weren't guarding our own and had to help a lot and they hit a couple shots in the corner.”

After Laura Pawlik scored on an offensive rebound for Oakland Catholic, the Eagles got the ball back with 4:45 remaining and ran nearly two minutes off the clock.

“We were in foul trouble and couldn't pressure them as hard,” DiPippa said. “That did lead to them getting more open shots. So we need to keep ourselves out of foul trouble to continue our pressure.”

Butler was forced to foul and CC Cromer, who scored a game-high 14 points, made four free throws in the final two minutes to prevent a comeback.

Julia Baxter, who finished with nine points and nine rebounds, made a layup to help Butler creep within 34-32 with 1:53 remaining.

The Golden Tornado weren't able to get any closer.

“We're just going to use this to give us more momentum and fire to go on to the next game,” DiPippa said.

OAKLAND CATHOLIC 39

CC Cromer 4 5-7 14, Katie Kush 2 2-4 8, Lexi Lonero 0 1-2 1, Laura Pawlik 1 2-2 4, Taylor Renk 2 1-1 5, Gabrielle Gevaudan 0 1-2 1, Aliyah Tullis 0 1-2 1, Mia Cuccaro 0 0-0 0, Jayla Copetta 1 2-2 5. Totals: 10 15-21 39.

BUTLER 32

Alyssa DiPippa 5 2-2 12, Dani Hensel 2 0-0 4, Kalynn Callihan 1 0-0 2, Jenna Kunst 0 1-2 1, Julia Baxter 4 1-3 9, Ronni Guiney 1 0-0 2, Kailey Olenick 1 0-0 2, Mia Rader 0 0-0 0. Totals: 14 4-7 32.

Oakland Catholic 9 5 10 15 — 39

Butler10 8 9 5 — 32

3-point goals: Oakland Catholic 4 (Kush 2, Cromer, Copetta)

Monday: Butler at Seneca Valley