SHALER TWP— Butler girls basketball coach Dorothea Epps could see it coming.

Shaler is not the same team that dropped a 68-39 decision at Butler on Dec. 21.

On Thursday night, the Titans proved it.

Junior forward Jackie Sauer scored 19 points and sophomore guard Olivia DiNucci added 16 as Shaler posted a 59-47 victory over the Golden Tornado.

"They have gotten much better in recent games,"Epps said. "Historically, Shaler gets off to slow starts in girls basketball and comes on strong at the end.

"We had to be ready for that, and we weren't. We didn't begin playing until the third quarter."

Butler (15-4, 5-3) scored only two points in the opening quarter and trailed 26-16 at halftime.

"We missed four or five bunnies in the first quarter,"Epps said. "I mean, we had some wide-open shots and didn't convert."

Amy Achesinski scored 17 points for Butler and Maria Baroffio added 15. Liz Schultz paced the Tornado with nine rebounds.

Melissa McQuade contributed 12 points for Shaler (11-9, 5-4), which won for the eighth time in 11 games since that 29-point loss at Butler.

The Titans lead North Allegheny by a game for the fourth and final playoff berth in Section 3-AAAA. Butler slipped into a tie with Pine-Richland for second place in the section behind unbeaten New Castle.

Epps said. "We've been stressing to the girls that we want to wrap up a spot before that final game (Feb. 9 at New Castle)."

After hosting Seneca Valley Monday night, Butler travels to Pine-Richland Thursday before hosting North Allegheny Feb. 5.

"They're all big now,"Epps said of the upcoming schedule. "But our girls are resilient. They've bounced back before, and I'm confident they'll do it again."

BUTLER 47Amy Achesinski 6 5-10 17, Maria Baroffio 5 3-5 15, Rachel Barry 3 2-2 8, Liz Schultz 0 2-2 2, Karissa King 1 0-0 3, Olivia Bresnahan 1 0-0 2, Erica Miller 0 0-0 0, Rachel Doutt 0 0-0 0.

Totals: 16 12-19 47

SHALER 59Jackie Sauer 6 7-8 19, Olivia DiNucci 5 3-5 15, Melissa McQuade 5 2-4 12, Kristen Devlin 3 2-2 8, Julianne Harris 1 2-2 4, Chrissy Bierdrzycki 0 0-0 0

Totals: 20 19-24 59

Butler 2 14 18 13—47Shaler 7 19 14 19—593-point goals: Baroffio 2, King

Monday: Seneca Valley atButler