BUTLER TWP— So much for the scrimmage.

The Butler girls basketball team struggled with Ambridge during a recent preseason scrimmage, with coach Dorothea Epps referring to the game as "our worst outing of the fall."

The Golden Tornado reversed that effort in a big way Friday night, placing four players in double figures and rolling over the Bridgers 71-37 in the first round of the Butler Tip-Off Tournament.

Butler will face Mercyhurst Prep, a 45-27 winner over Hollidaysburg, in the tournament title game at 8 p.m. Saturday.

"We were able to jump on them right away and forced them to play our game,"Epps said. "They had to play catch-up right from the start, and that can tire a team out."

Ambridge committed six turnovers and fell behind 9-2 three minutes into the game. The Bridgers committed 28 turnovers in the game, 16 in the first half.

The Tornado led 41-20 at intermission and Ambridge never got closer than 17 points the rest of the way. Butler used a 13-0 run to build a 54-24 lead with 3:58 left in the third quarter.

"Their point guard (Lexi Fontana) hurt us in that scrimmage by making a lot of plays,"Epps said. "We double-teamed her tonight. We wanted the ball out of her hands."

The result was disastrous for Ambridge.

"Our point guard had 10 turnovers herself in that half," Bridgers coach Kim Tirik said. "You can't have that. She's a junior. ... It's not like she's a young player.

"She got rattled tonight. I don't know if it was first-game jitters or what, but Faith Glover is the only one on our team who had a decent game. Everyone else played their worst game on the same night. We were terrible."

Glover had nine points and six rebounds for Ambridge. Kiki Brown, a senior guard and the team's lone returning starter, scored 16 points, but sank just seven of 22 shots.

"Our leaders didn't play well tonight, so what are you gonna do?You can't expect your freshmen to step up when that happens,"Tirik said.

On the other side, it was all good for Butler. The Tornado shot 60 percent from the floor (27 of 45) and connected on 14 of 18 free throws. They had a 23-21 edge in rebounds and committed only 16 turnovers.

Jenna Manuel scored 13 points off the bench for Butler. Olivia Bresnahan had 12 points and five assists, Casie Cygan had 12 points off the bench and Lyndsy Day netted 10 points.

Day, Bresnahan, Katherine Sylvia, Cygan and Manuel had three rebounds each for the Tornado.

Mercyhurst Prep 45, Hollidaysburg 27 — With five minutes left in the third quarter, the game was tied at 19 and saw seven lead changes and five ties. The Lakers used a 9-0 run for the balance of the quarter to take control.Senior guard Lindsay Moore led Mercyhurst (22-5 last season) with 15 points. Junior center Kirsten Olowinski added 12 points and five rebounds.Amanda Ottaway paced Hollidaysburg (16-8 a year ago) with 11 points.

AMBRIDGE 37Lexi Fontana 1-5 0-0 2, Kiki Brown 7-22 2-4 16, Faith Glover 4-7 1-1 9, Courtney Parisi 0-0 0-2 0, Amber Borkowski 0-1 0-0 0, Precious McCracken 5-6 0-0 10.

Totals: 17-41 3-7 37.

BUTLER 71Lyndsy Day 4-6 2-2 10, Olivia Bresnahan 6-7 0-0 12, Karissa King 1-2 0-0 3, Katherine Sylvia 1-2 3-4 5, Erica Miller 0-3 2-2 2, Ashley Onufrak 2-2 0-0 4, Casie Cygan 5-6 1-2 12, Rachel Doutt 0-0 0-0 0, Jenna Manuel 5-6 2-2 13, Kayla Gilliland 2-4 4-5 8, Katresa Savisky 1-5 0-0 2, Emily Wise 0-2 0-0 0.

Totals: 27-45 14-18 71.

Ambridge 13 7 14 3—37Butler 23 18 19 11—71`3-point goals: King, Cygan, Manuel

JV: Butler 60, Mercyhurst Prep 44 (B-Casie Cygan 18, Rachel Doutt 13; MP-Lynsey Stamp 14)

Saturday: Mercyhurst Prep at Butler, 8 p.m.

HOLLIDAYSBURG 27Sara Trimarco 1-7 1-4 3, Kayla Ergler 0-0 0-0 0, Dani Maloney 1-4 1-2 3, Taylor Griffifth 2-13 2-2 6, Bethany Kanski 0-2 0-0 0, Hannah Bourne 2-4 0-0 4, Amanda Ottaway 4-9 2-4 11.

Totals: 10-39 6-12 27

MERCYHURST PREP45Marly McLaughlin 0-0 0-0 0, Lindsay Moore 4-11 4-4 15, Kristen Sebunia 1-1 0-0 2, Kara Milhisler 0-0 0-0 0, Ellen Bach 2-4 0-0 6, Courey Schaetzle 2-3 0-1 4, Victoria Majewski 2-2 0-0 4, Amanda DeBello 1-4 0-0 2, Autumn Anderson 0-0 0-0 0, Kirsten Olowinski 4-8 4-4 12.

Totals: 16-33 8-9 45

Hollidaysburg 6 9 4 8—27Mercyhurst Prep 6 9 13 17—453-point goals: Ottaway; Moore 3, Bach 2

Saturday: Hollidaysburg vs. Ambridge, 6:30 p.m., at Butler