BUTLER TWP — Kayla Grafton grabbed the rebound and went up with a shot.

It kissed of the backboard and dropped through the net as the buzzer sounded, sending the Knoch bench and fans into celebration.

The put-back capped a rally that gave the Knoch girls basketball team a 47-45 win over Allderdice Thursday in the consolation game of the Butler Christmas Tournament and snapped a six-game losing streak.

Perseverance was the word of the day for the Knights.

“Something we hope we got out of tonight was you keep persevering,” said Knoch coach Chris Andreassi. “What we talked about last night — What do you do? What buttons do you push? You just keep working hard and good things will happen to good people and those are great kids right there.”

Things looked bleak again for Knoch, which fell behind early 14-7 and never held a lead until the 1:53 mark of the fourth quarter.

The Knights (2-6) trailed the Dragons (2-7) by as many as nine points in the fourth quarter, but rallied behind Grafton and Carly Burdett.

“Just some real gutty performances,” Andreassi said.”

Burdett shook off shooting woes in the first three quarters and scored 11 of her game-high 19 points in the fourth.

She also had 10 rebounds.

“Her shots weren’t falling in the first half, but we told her to persevere,” Andreassi said. “She had a huge second half and fourth quarter. She was running the floor and Casey (Kretzer) was finding her.”

In a frenetic game where the two teams combined to attempt 131 field goals, a subtle job on defense by Anna Neff made a huge difference for the Knights.

Neff played extensively in the place of Emily Fraser, who was battling an illness, and held Allderdice’s top scorer, Emma Waite, to 10 points on 4-of-24 shooting.

“I can’t stress enough the job Anna Neff did on (Waite),” Andreassi said. “She did a tremendous job defensively on her.”

Knoch also got a boost from Kayla Edwards off the bench after Gabby Fennell fouled out.

“What can you say about Kayla Edwards,” Andreassi said. “We had two guards out. Gabby Fennell fouled out and Emily Fraser was sick and couldn’t go. She tried to go, and couldn’t. Anna stepped in and was awesome and when Gabby fouled out, Kayla came in and was poised and kept her composure.”

Knoch dominated Allderdice on the boards, particularly in the second half.

Andreassi is hopeful this will be a springboard for the Knights going forward.

“We’ll keep working hard,” Andreassi said. “Hopefully, every time you get a game like this, you learn a little more about how to win. Everything’s a learning experience. Now, it’s what you do with it.”

ALLDERDICE 45

Emma Waite 4-24 3-3 10, Sophia North 5-12 0-0 10, Lilly Saitz 4-11 0-0 8, Brooklyn Jones 4-11 2-2 10, Emma Brown 0-7 2-2 2, MarKeya Killer 0-7 2-2 2, Mackenzie Thompson 0-1 0-0 0, Nancy Jackson 1-2 0-0 2, Kiera Coleman 0-0 0-2 0, Taylor Barlow 0-0 0-2 0. Totals: 18-69 8-13 45.

KNOCH 47

Kayla Grafton 5-10 0-0 10, Gabby Fennell 2-9 1-2 6, Emily Fraser 1-4 0-0 2, Carly Burdett 7-23 5-10 19, Casey Kretzer 2-13 4-6 10, Anna Neff 0-2 0-0 0, Sabine O’Rorke 0-0 0-0 0, Kayla Edwards 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 17-62 10-18 47.

Allderdice 15 9 6 15 — 45

Knoch 12 7 7 21 — 47

3-point goals: Allderdice 1 (Waite); Knoch 3 (Fennell, Kretzer 2)

Tuesday: Burrell at Knoch