BUTLER TWP — Olivia Bresnahan received her 1,000th point early, but Butler received a late wake-up call.

The Golden Tornado watched their 22-point fourth-quarter lead shrink to eight before holding off Chartiers Valley for a 59-49 girls basketball win in Friday night's season opener.

The game marked the second half of the Butler Tip-Off Tournament in the Tornado gym. Hopewell defeated Mercyhurst Prep, 63-53, in the first game.

"These are four very good teams here," Butler coach Dorothea Epps said. "It was tough deciding which of the other three teams we wanted to play first.

"We knew this wasn't going to be a 20-point game. They were going to make a run at us, but we held together. I saw our girls showing emotion while (the Colts) were coming back. I liked that," she added.

Chartiers Valley was 17-7 last season and has three starters back.

When Bresnahan canned a short jumper with 6:10 remaining, Butler had a 51-29 lead and Chartiers Valley hadn't scored a point in more than eight minutes.

Then the Colts got hot.

Chartiers Valley went on an 11-0 run to pull within 51-40 with 3:34 left. The Colts got as close as eight at 52-44 when Mariah Wells stuck back an offensive rebound with 2:27 remaining.

Layups by Emily Wise and Casie Cygan returned the Tornado to a double-digit lead as Butler weathered the storm.

"We got a bit lackadaisical out there and you can never do that," Bresnahan said. "We stuck together and fought through it, though."

Chartiers Valley endured a third quarter that saw it sink one of 17 shots from the floor and one of five from the line.

"When you're a 3-point shooting team, you have stretches like that," Colts coach Spencer Stefko said. "That's why we don't want to be a 3-point shooting team.

"We stood around the perimeter looking for 3s too much in the first three quarters. Once we hit a couple in the fourth, everyone got a little more energy. But we can't wait that long to get started," Stefko added.

Butler never trailed as Bresnahan paced the Tornado with 22 points, six assists and five rebounds. She entered the game needing 12 points for 1,000 and got it when she nailed a jumper late in the second quarter.

Cygan contributed 15 points and five rebounds. Katresa Savisky had eight of Butler's 35 rebounds.

When Bresnahan hit the 1,000-point mark, a few fans held up signs with the numerals 1,000. There was no other fanfare during or after the game.

"That's just Olivia," Epps said. "She's never been into her stats. She's all about the team. She just wants to win games."

Bresnahan shot 15 of Butler's 20 free throws. The Tornado were just two of eight from the line in the fourth period.

"I'm disgusted about that," Epps said. "We'll be working on free throws."

Paige Aleski and Alyssa Mazzarini scored 12 points each for the Colts.

Butler honored the memory of Hank Keller with a brief ceremony before the game. Keller, Butler's golf coach who died this fall, also kept the Tornado's official scorebook for a number of years.

<B>Hopewell 63, Mercyhurst Prep 53 — </B>Paige Alviani scored 20 points for the Vikings while 5-foot-11 freshman Shatori Walker-Kimbrough added 17 points and nine rebounds. Samantha Fisher had nine points and 11 boards.Amanda Berchtold scored 20 points, including four 3-pointers, for Mercyhurst Prep while Lindsay Stamp had 17 points and 10 rebounds.<B>HOPEWELL 63</B>Amanda Tocci 0-4 2-2 2, Elise Farris 3-6 2-7 8, Paige Alviani 4-10 9-10 20, Olivia Bonavita 1-2 2-4 5, Samantha Fisher 4-6 1-4 9, Lindsey McKay 0-1 2-3 2, Shatori Walker-Kimbrough 8-15 1-2 17. Totals: 20-44 19-32 63.<B>MERCYHURST PREP 53</B>Alissa Robbins 1-3 0-0 3, Kayla Wilwohl 1-7 0-0 2, Ally Burke 0-0 0-0 0, Amanda Berchtold 8-16 0-0 20, Kelly Hedderick 0-1 0-0 0, Brenna Robbins 0-2 0-0 0, Florie Fournier 0-2 1-2 1, Lindsay Stamp 8-20 0-3 17, Autumn Anderson 5-5 0-1 10. Totals: 23-56 1-6 53<B>Hopewell 14 15 16 18—63Mercyhurst Prep 15 9 11 18—533-point goals: </B>Hopewell 4 (Alviani 3, Bonavita); Mercyhust Prep 6 (A. Robbins, Berchtold 4, Stamp).<B>Saturday:</B> Mercyhurst Prep vs. Chartiers Valley, 6 p.m., at Butler Tournament<B>CHARTIERS VALLEY 49</B>Mariah Wells 1-2 5-6 7, Rebecca Beraithwaite 1-4 1-2 3, Kayla Dames 0-3 0-0 0, Lexy Herron 4-13 0-0 11, Kristina Coyne 0-0 0-2 0, Alex Coyne 2-8 0-2 4, Paige Alexi 3-13 5-6 12, Alyssa Mazzarini 6-7 0-2 12. Totals: 17-50 11-20 49<B>BUTLER 59</B>Casey Fleeger 0-3 1-2 1, Katresa Savisky 2-4 0-2 4, Becky Nowacki 2-2 0-0 4, Olivia Bresnahan 7-10 8-15 22, Emily Wise 2-6 0-0 4, Casie Cygan 6-13 2-2 15, Alexandria Houk 2-3 0-0 5, Jasmine Bailey 0-2 0-0 0, Caitlin Baxter 2-3 0-0 4. Totals: 23-46 11-20 59<B>Chartiers Valley 16 10 3 20—49Butler 18 18 11 12—593-point goals: </B>Chartiers Valley 4 (Herron 3, Aleski); Butler 2 (Cygan, Houk).<B>Junior varsity:</B> Butler, 33-31 (B-Caitlin Baxter 12, CV-Madison Zajicek 11)<B>Saturday:</B> Hopewell at Butler, 7:30 p.m.