BUTLER TWP — During her high school days, Lea Roth was a basketball vagabond.

Four years. Three teams. Four coaches.

Two of those seasons were spent wasting away on the bench with little prospect of playing much.

But all that has changed now for Roth, a freshman guard on the Butler County Community College women's basketball team.

Finally, she has found a basketball home.

"It's been so much fun because I'm getting the chance to play, finally, on a team that is scoring and winning," said Roth, who is averaging 14.6 points per game for the 7-4 Pioneers.

She has become a lethal outside shooter and displayed that prowess Wednesday when she hit six 3-pointers and netted 22 points in a win against CCAC-Allegheny.

BC3 has become a home to players like Roth, who never found their niche in high school but have flourished with the Pioneers.

"She knows what her deficiencies are, but she's a shooter," said Butler coach SeanCarroll. "We're very fortunate to have her, because when she is on, she's a dagger."

Roth's road to the Pioneers was as twisting as the ones that cut through Butler County.

Roth, who was homeschooled, had a difficult time just finding a team to play for in her high school days.

During her freshman year, she played on a team made up entirely of homeschoolers.

When that team folded, Roth found a spot on the Beaver CountyChristian School team for her sophomore season.

She saw ample playing time for both teams, butRoth was rocked by disturbing news before her junior year.

The Southwestern Christian Athletic Conference, the league in which the Beaver school played, decided to not allow homeschoolers to play on its member teams.

Roth was faced with a difficult decision.

"It was play for Slippery Rock or quit," Roth said. "And I didn't want to stop. I loved to play too much to do that."

But Roth found life on a public school team much harder.

She played for the junior varsity team, scoring 28 points in one game, but Roth got very little playing time during the varsity contests.

"It was hard," Roth said. "I came into my junior year and thought I'd give it a try. I finally got a varsity jersey midway through the season, so I thought, 'OK. I'm making progress.' Then I hardly played."

Slippery Rock changed coaches between her junior and senior seasons, lettingGene Rodgers go and hiring Adrienne Orris.

Roth attended all the summer workouts, but saw the writing on the wall.

"I liked her and she is certainly a good coach," Roth said. "But I actually thought about quitting. I asked her flat out, 'Are you going to use me?' I give her credit because she told me the truth. She said, 'Probably not.' I couldn't quit. I loved it too much to quit."

Roth went all out in practice, she said, treating those sessions as her games.

She said she probably would not have had the skills to play for the Pioneers had she walked away last season.

"My junior and senior years are paying off now," Roth said. "I know I lack a lot of game experience. That's been the hardest part of me, but I know if I didn't play those two years, I wouldn't be as good as I am now."

That's a common story for all who wind up at BC3.

Jessica Fry is another.

Roth's teammate for a year at Slippery Rock, Fry is in her second season with the Pioneers and faring well as the team's center, averaging 8.8 points and eight rebounds per game.

"I still wanted to play, so it was a good opportunity for me to come here," Fry said. "I think I have grown. I'm shooting the ball better than I did in high school."

The Pioneers' roster is thin, but full of talent that was never completely tapped in high school.

"That's the nature of this level," Carroll said. "The girls who are the best players on their teams are going to, most of the time, go to the four-year schools. We're here for the other girls."