SHALER TWP — You are what your record says you are.

That belief doesn’t seem to fit Shaler’s girls basketball team.

In Friday night’s game against Butler, the Titans certainly didn’t play like a team that is near the basement in Section 1.

Shaler grabbed the lead early in the second quarter and never trailed again in posting a 40-31 home win.

“Everybody in this section is good,” said Butler coach Joe Lewandowski. “You come on the road against these teams, you can’t take anything for granted.”

Butler earned a 40-36 victory over Shaler Jan. 6, though the Titans led 27-18 after three quarters of play.

“From watching film, we lost (Butler freshman Kylee) Lewandowski a few times in our zone defense late in that game and she hit some big 3s,” said Shaler coach Cornelious Nesbit. “We wanted to make sure we knew where she was at all times tonight.”

Lewandowski, who scored 17 points in that earlier game, had five points in the rematch.

The Titans on Friday were nursing a 32-23 lead as the fourth quarter began. They did not score until Gabby Lebakken’s bucket with 4:42 left in the period, but Butler had been unable to take advantage of the drought, scoring in that span only on a pair of free throws from Jenna Kunst with 5:54 left.

Needing to close the game with efficient play on the offensive end, Butler (10-6, 3-4) committed four costly turnovers in the final eight minutes. The Golden Tornado had 20 turnovers in the game.

“I liked our composure tonight,” said Nesbit. “We could see that the girls were willing to dig in and play tight defense.”

Kunst scored all eight of Butler’s points in the fourth period. Her basket with 1:31 remaining trimmed Shaler’s lead to 39-31 and Butler got no closer.

“We competed until the very end,” said Lewandowski. “Even when you’re down, if you’re still competing, that’s what you want out of a program.”

A Senior Night ceremony preceded the game, but Shaler’s players had their minds where they needed to be once the game started.

Rylee Donovan, Lebakken and Meg Lydon each sank a trey in the opening period as the Titans (10-7, 2-5) opened up an 11-7 lead.

Donovan and Kayla Seidl, two of Shaler’s five seniors, scored 13 and 12 points, respectively.

“We knew there could be a lot of emotion on a night like this,” said Nesbit, “but we tapped into it. We told the girls to bring that emotion out onto the court.”

Shaler hit eight treys in the game, with Donovan and Seidl both sinking three. Butler was just 1-of-15 from the outside.

“They shot the ball from (3-point range) really well,” said Coach Lewandowski of the Titans. “Those shots start falling and you start scrambling a bit. We shot a lot from out there because Shaler started packing it in on defense.

“We didn’t do a good job on defense and we had too many turnovers,” he added. “That’s a recipe for disaster.”

Alyssa Eyth paced Butler with 12 points and Kunst added 10.

BUTLER 31

Mia Rader 1 0-0 2, Alyssa Eyth 3 6-8 12, Kylee Lewandowski 2 0-0 5, Jenna Kunst 2 6-9 10, Julia Gibson 1 0-0 2, Jordan Kauffman 0 0-0 0, Emma Monteleone 0 0-0 0, Emilee Altmeyer 0 0-0 0. Totals: 9 12-17 31.

SHALER 40

Rylee Donovan 5 0-0 13, Kayla Seidl 4 1-2 12, Gabby Lebakken 2 0-0 5, Meg Lydon 2 5-7 10, Jess Schmidt 0 0-2 0, Allie Graf 0 0-0 0, Maura Fisher 0 0-0 0, Emily Cavacini 0 0-0 0. Totals: 13 6-11 40.

Butler 7 8 8 8 — 31

Shaler11 8 13 8 — 40

3-point goals: Butler 1 (Lewandowski); Shaler 8 (Donovan 3, Seidl 3, Lebakken, Lydon).

Monday: Pine-Richland at Butler