BUTLER TWP — Six years ago, the Butler varsity girls basketball team was dominant.

The program had just reeled off a fifth consecutive winning season and third straight section title, going 60-13 overall, 35-1 in section play over that three-year span.

But that was six years ago.

The Golden Tornado have had only one winning season since, have a new coach this year in Joe Lewandowski and are winless in section play. Butler is 2-10 overall this season with six of the losses being by more than 25 points.

But all is not lost.

“This program is going to come back. I can see it coming,” Lewandowski said.

And that comeback will be fueled by a quartet of sophomores: Alyssa Eyth, Jenna Kunst, Mia Rader and Kailey Olenick.

Two of them haven't been available for every game this season. Eyth, a guard, has only played seven games and is averaging 12 points per contest after coming back from a pair of knee injuries.

Rader, a point guard, missed three months before finally returning to game action Monday from a badly broken hand.

“We're limited in how many minutes we can play her right now, 13 or so, which hurts because we don't have a lot of guards,” Lewandowski said. “We've had to play Jenna out of position this year as a result.”

Regardless, Kunst is averaging just under 10 points per game and is grabbing eight rebounds per contest.

Olenick “is in a shooting slump right now,” Lewandowski said, but she has scored in double figures three times and is averaging 7.5 points per game. She played a JV game Monday for the first time all season and scored 14 points.

“Coach is trying to get me warmed up a little earlier. I'll do whatever it takes,” Olenick said.

Butler is averaging 40.6 points per game as a team. Eyth, Kunst and Olenick are getting 30 of those.

“Last year, seniors scored 78 percent of the points for this team, if not more,” Lewandowski said. “This year, 70 percent of those points are coming from sophomores.

“Sure, we're taking our lumps. but this program is going to benefit from this year. And we've got good talent coming behind these girls.”

Freshmen Julia Gibson, Heidi Gross and Sydney Hanratty are seeing some varsity minutes now. And the junior high team has a strong group.

Butler's six seniors — Melea Barlow, Kelsee Callihan, Noel Pfabe, Autumn Rodgers, Tiana Schaffner and Allison Schubert — understand the situation this year and have contributed to the team on and off the court.

“There's been no issues with anybody. We're all getting along, working together — That's a credit to them,” Kunst said.

Eyth brings a total floor game to the table. She scored 25 points against Westinghouse this season.

She tore her ACL last year, returned and tore her meniscus in June.

“We've missed her. I know I've missed her,” Kunst said. “She adds so much to our team.”

“We're all going to benefit from this experience of playing so much varsity together as sophomores,” Eyth said. “The seniors on the team have been great to us. They've been helpful and supportive of the situation.”

Rader is one of the more promising young players in the program who is now “just trying to keep up” since returning, she said.

“I'm just glad to be back on the court,” Rader said. “I missed a lot of time, but I've been able to stay in shape by running.”

Turnovers have been a major thorn in Butler's side all season. Rader will help to change that.

“Mia can handle the ball and settle things down at point guard. She can set up shooters,” Lewandowski said.

The coach emphasized that Eyth, Kunst and Rader come to practice early and stay an extra hour afterward. Olenick is all over the court and “gets her hands on the basketball all the time” defensively.

“Good players want to be coached. These girls want to be coached,” Lewandowski said.

“Jenna Kunst has so much ability and a great motor. We're playing her out of position right now, but she could be a Division I player down the road.”

And Butler will be winning again down the road.

“This is a building year,” Kunst said. “We're still playing hard and we'll be playing all of these teams a second time.”

“Nobody likes losing. We just have to work toward winning,” Olenick said.