BUTLER TWP— Jaleesa Sams ran away with the basketball. And New Castle's girls ran away from Butler.

With Butler on a 7-0 run and holding for the last shot of the first quarter and its first lead of the game, Sams stole the ball from point guard Olivia Bresnahan near midcourt with five seconds left.

The 5-foot-11 senior forward sprinted the other way and laid the ball in just before the buzzer.

The Hurricanes (14-0, 6-0) went on to score the game's next 10 points and cruised to a 46-26 victory over the Golden Tornado.

The score was tied at eight at the time of Sams' steal.

"That was a momentum-changing play,"Butler coach Dorothea Epps said. "Our girls were a little down in the (post-quarter) huddle. We never recovered.

"This is disappointing. We played nervous all night. We were tentative with everything we did. I've never seen us like this. With four seniors on the floor, I never expected it."

The 26 points marked a season-low for Butler (12-3, 4-2). The previous low was 38 in a victory at Seneca Valley Jan. 2. New Castle's 46 points marked its season-low as well.

"I never thought of that, but, yeah, it is,"New Castle coach Luann Grybowski said. "But our defense tonight was unreal. From top to bottom, every girl on the floor contributed to this effort."

Amy Achesinski scored 12 points and Maria Baroffio 10 for Butler. The rest of the Tornado lineup produced only four points.

Butler suffered 21 turnovers to only 11 for New Castle.

"What bothers me is we did this to ourselves,"Epps said. "We handled their pressure OK. We were making bad passes, deflecting the ball out of bounds, dribbling it out of bounds. ... When you play not to lose, you play tentative and you make mistakes."

Ryenn Micaletti paced New Castle with 11 points, three steals and three assists. Sams had 10 points, 12 rebounds, five assists and three blocked shots. Abby Allen contributed 10 points.

"Jaleesa can do everything for us,"Grybowski said. "She broke their pressure bringing the ball up the floor, too. She brings an all-around floor game every night."

Both teams had 29 rebounds. Achesinski had six for Butler, while Baroffio and Karissa King had five each. The Tornado sank only nine of 35 field goal attempts.

Achesinski managed only one field goal in each of the four quarters.

"We fronted her well and denied her the ball in scoring position,"Grybowski said. "Amy is a great player. You have to find ways to keep the ball away from her."

NEW CASTLE 46Ryenn Micaletti 5-14 0-0 11, Abby Allen 4-5 1-2 10, Logan Hartman 2-5 0-0 4, Jaleesa Sams 4-14 2-4 10, Kara Joseph 2-8 0-1 5, Tasia Wise 3-6 0-0 6, Shelby Rodgers 0-1 0-0 0.

Totals: 20-53 3-6 46

BUTLER 26Rachel Barry 1-4 0-0 2, Karissa King 0-5 0-0 0, Olivia Bresnahan 0-3 0-0 0, Liz Schultz 1-1 0-0 2, Katherine Sylvia 0-0 0-0 0, Amy Achesinski 4-10 4-5 12, Maria Baroffio 3-10 3-4 10, Erica Miller 0-2 90-0 0, Rachel Doutt 0-2 0-0 0. Totals: 9-35 7-10 26

New Castle 10 14 15 7—46Butler 8 6 5 7—263-point goals: Micaletti, Allen, Joseph; Baroffio

JV: Butler, 50-49 (B-Rachel Doutt 14, Kayla Gilliland 10; NC-Amanda Wise 13, Tasia Wise 11)

Wednesday: Hampton atButler