NEW CASTLE— Butler suffered from too much Jalessa Sams Friday night.

New Castle's 5-foot-11 senior forward started strong, finished strong and dominated at both ends of the court.

"Jalessa was in a zone tonight,"Butler coach Dorothea Epps said. "We tried everything. We couldn't stop her."

Sams recorded a career-high 37 points, 16 rebounds, seven steals and blocked three shots as the Red Hurricanes (22-1, 12-0) completed a perfect section season with a 64-48 girls basketball win over the Golden Tornado.

Sams scored New Castle's first 10 points as the hosts jumped out to a 10-2 lead. She had 13 points and six rebounds in the first quarter alone.

But the Hurricanes didn't pull away from Butler (17-6, 7-5) until Sams got a little scoring help from her friends.

Sams scored 25 of her team's first 32 points, but two free throws, a steal and layup by Maria Baroffio pulled the Tornado within 32-27 with 2:32 left in the third quarter.

Then New Castle's Kara Joseph sank a 3-pointer, Logan Hartman completed a three-point play and Joseph scored a layup in transition off a Sams steal to give New Castle a 40-27 lead less than a minute later.

Butler never got closer than eight points the rest of the way.

"Sams is simply that good. ... When she starts dominating both ends of the floor, she's good enough to set her teammates up to make plays, too. Then you know you're in trouble,"Epps said.

The 64 points allowed by Butler were the most the Tornado have surrendered since Bethel Park's 73-60 win over the Tornado Dec. 4.

"Jalessa was into this from the opening tip,"said New Castle coach Luann Grybowski said. "She hated losing the other night (49-38 at Altoona), and she wasn't going to let it happen again."

"We haven't beaten Butler on our home floor in eight years," Sams said. "That motivated me more than anything, more than the undefeated section record, the Altoona loss — anything."

Hartman added 11 points and six rebounds for New Castle, which held a 29-17 rebounding edge. Each team had 15 turnovers.

Amy Achesinski scored 15 points for Butler and reached the 1,500-point plateau for her career. She has 1,501. Rachel Barry scored 14 points and Baroffio had 11.

Achesinski is only the third player — male or female — in Butler basketball history to reach the 1,500-point plateau.

"Amy's been an amazing player,"Epps said. "From ninth grade on, she's wanted the ball in her hands. She scored those 1,500 points within the framework of our offense and with two or three defenders always collapsing in on her."

Butler clinched a WPIALplayoff berth last week and will find out its first-round opponent Tuesday night.

"We played well tonight. We just didn't play well enough,"Epps said.

The Tornado JVs polished off a 23-0 season with a 44-35 victory. Katherine Sylvia scored 12 points and Becky Smith added 10.

BUTLER 48Rachel Barry 5-6 3-3 14, Karissa King 0-4 0-3 0, Olivia Bresnahan 4-6 0-4 8, Liz Schultz 0-0 0-0 0, Amy Achesinski 7-11 1-4 15, Mario Baroffio 3-8 5-6 11, Erica Miller 0-1 0-0 0.

Totals: 19-36 9-20 48

NEW CASTLE 64Shelby Rodgers 0-0 0-0 0, Ryenn Micaletti 1-6 0-0 2, Abby Allen 3-5 0-0 6, Logan Hartman 4-6 3-3 11, Tasia Wise 0-1 0-0 0, Jalessa Sams 15-27 7-10 37, Kara Joseph 3-5 0-0 8, Amanda Wise 0-0 0-0 0.

Totals: 26-50 10-13 64

Butler 9 12 8 19—48New Castle 15 8 17 24—643-point goals: Barry; Joseph 2

JV: Butler, 44-35 (B-Katherine Sylvia 12, Becky Smith 10; NC-Amanda Wise 13, Tasia Wise 11)