Veteran Upper St. Clair girls basketball coach Ernie Koontz knows all about championships.

He knows about potential champions, as well.

The Panthers (22-5) won their fifth WPIAL Class AAAA championship under Koontz last Saturday. They take on Butler (24-3) in the first round of the PIAA tournament at 6 p.m. Friday at North Allegheny.

The Golden Tornado are coming off a 66-4 thrashing of Allderdice in a play-in game Tuesday.

"Coming into the (WPIAL) playoffs, some people were picking Butler to win it,"Koontz said. "They have a tremendous record and a very physical team."

Koontz hasn't put together such a bad record himself. He is 493-141 in 23 years at Upper St. Clair, with a state title (1999) to go with his five WPIALcrowns.

Upper St. Clair has won nine of its last 10 games — the lone loss a 53-51 decision to West Mifflin in the regular season finale — and held all four of its WPIALplayoff opponents below 50 points.

"They've got two Division I (college) girls, maybe three,"Butler coach Dorothea Epps said. "They are loaded with talent.

"We play similar styles. We both like to run, but we may run end to end a little more than they do. We have to play that scrappy, in-your-face type of defense."

The Panthers have three senior starters back from last year's team, which lost to eventual state champion Cheltenham in the PIAAsemifinals.

"That Cheltenham team had five senior starters and lost in the state finals the year before,"Koontz said.

All three returning Panthers starters are averaging in double figures and are headed to college ball. Five-foot-11 guard Alex Gensler averages 17 points per game and will play at Duquesne.

Meghan McLean, a 5-10 guard, averages 13 points per game and will play at the University of Delaware. Andrea Pion, a 5-10 forward, nets 12 points per outing and has not yet decided upon a college.

The Panthers' other two starters, 6-2 junior forward Emily Mueller and 5-6 sophomore guard Grace Hyland, average 8.7 and 6.1 points per game, respectively.

"We go eight or nine players deep in most games,"Koontz said.

Upper St. Clair averages 59.4 points while allowing 46.8 per game. Butler averages 59.3 points and surrenders 41.8 per contest.

Butler witnessed the return of senior point guard Lyndsy Day against Allderdice. She had been out with a severe knee injury.

"That was a big boost for our girls,"Epps said. "This will be a totally different situation Friday. We're playing the WPIAL champions. This last game was unfortunate. Nobody really got anything out of it.

"I give (Allderdice) credit for showing up and trying to play the game, but that wasn't even as good as a scrimmage.

"Lyndsy's not going to be able to run the floor, so we'll have to be careful with her minutes come Friday. It will almost go possession by possession,"Epps added.

The Panthers finished second to Mount Lebanon in Section 4-AAAA. Peters Township joined those two squads in the WPIALsemifinals last week.

"Playing in our section ... it's like being in the ACCor the Big East. Everybody's pretty good and it gets you ready for the tournament," Koontz said.

"It's a chance to redeem ourselves,"Epps said. "We may not have the Division I caliber players just yet, but I'm a firm believer that you can win with a bunch of girls who play hard and play well together. And we've had that all year."