WEXFORD — Penn-Trafford was the opponent, but it felt a lot like Gateway.

Only this time, Butler won at the end.

Olivia Bresnahan sank two free throws with 1:01 remaining and another with 33 seconds left to give the Golden Tornado a 42-38 victory over Penn-Trafford in a first-round WPIAL Class AAAA girls basketball playoff Tuesday night at North Allegheny.

Bresnahan missed a layup at the final buzzer in a 45-43 loss to Gateway during the first round of last year's WPIAL playoffs.

Tuesday's game had the same pace, flow — and tight score.

"I said that during the first quarter tonight," Butler coach Dorothea Epps said. I kept thinking to myself, 'Geez, this seems familiar.'

"But tonight I also got the feeling our girls always believed we were going to win. I didn't get that feeling last year."

Butler puts its 15-game winning streak up against Bethel Park in the quarterfinals Friday night at a site and time to be determined.

The Tornado (17-5) never trailed Penn-Trafford, but they never led by more than eight points. Bresnahan sank a short jumper 20 seconds into the third quarter to give her team a 28-20 advantage.

The Warriors (14-10) immediately went on a 10-2 run to knot the game at 30 with 2:42 left in the period.

"I have to admit I started thinking about last year's game," senior guard Casie Cygan said. "I had to force the thought out of my mind."

Another Bresnahan jumper and Casey Fleeger's third 3-pointer of the night gave the Tornado a 35-30 lead and Butler took a three-point edge into the final quarter.

It took the air out of the ball as well.

The Tornado began the fourth quarter with possession against the Warriors' zone and successfully held the ball for more than four minutes. A turnover finally gave Penn-Trafford possession with 3:31 to play.

"Our offense was out of sync and I wanted to see how long they would let us hold the ball," Epps said of her decision to play keep-away.

"I had no problem with it," Penn-Trafford coach John Giannikas said. "We were only down three, so I was going to let them hold it for 2Z\x minutes or so.

"It was a bit of a gamble. We'd have been hurt if they hit a 3-pointer to end the possession, but we got the turnover."

The Warriors got closer as well. Emily Brady hit two free throws with 3:15 left, but Bresnahan answered with a layup seconds later. Two free throws by Cygan hiked Butler's lead to 39-34 with 2:08 remaining.

Layups by freshman forward Cassie Patterson and junior forward Brady pulled P-T within a point with 1:06 to play.

Penn-Trafford played with a 2-3 or 1-2-2 zone against Butler the entire night.

"It was effective because they knew who our shooters were," Cygan said. "They did a good job coming out on us. It was harder than usual to get our open shots."

The fear of facing Bresnahan was the reason for the zone.

"She's such a great player. There's no way you're going to totally stop her, but a zone was our best way to contain her," Giannikas said. "Still, she did her damage."

Especially at the end.

Bresnahan hit both ends of a one-and-one with 1:01 left to give her team a 41-38 lead. Her free throw with 33 seconds left made it a two-possession game.

The Warriors' Natalie Yanniruberto missed the front end of a one-and-one with 15.7 seconds left and the Tornado had their victory.

"A win is a win," Bresnahan said before sighing and shrugging her shoulders. "We made the plays in the end."

"This first round is a mental thing with us," Epps said. "Hopefully, this is out of our system now."

Bresnahan had 14 points, eight rebounds and six steals for Butler. Cygan had 10 points and five boards, and Katresa Savisky had five rebounds.

Brady had 14 points and nine rebounds for Penn-Trafford, which sank only 11-of-20 free throws. The Warriors had 27 field-goal attempts and 21 turnovers.

Penn-Trafford lost starting senior forward Valya Hobaugh to a knee injury late in the first half.

"She's our best outside shooter and we missed her," Giannikas said."

PENN-TRAFFORD 38Julie Jurich 1-3 0-0 2, Emily Brady 4-5 6-8 14, Cassie Patterson 2-4 2-4 6, Valya Hobaugh 3-4 0-0 7, B.B. McCourt 1-7 1-4 3, Brittany Chiodo 2-4 1-2 5, Kylie O'Toole 0-0 0-0 0, Taylor Cortazzo 0-0 1-2 1, Alyson Fawcett 0-0 0-0 0, Natalie Yanniruberto 0-0 0-1 0, Nicole Hyland 0-0 0-0 0.

Totals: 13-27 11-20 38.

BUTLER 42Casey Fleeger 3-5 0-0 9, Katresa Savisky 0-2 0-0 0, Becky Nowacki 0-1 0-0 0, Olivia Bresnahan 4-11 6-10 14, Amanda Dymun 2-4 1-2 5, Ali Sedwick 0-0 1-2 1, Jasmine Bailey 0-0 0-0 0, Emily Wise 1-4 0-0 3, Casie Cygan 3-10 2-3 10.

Totals: 13-37 10-17 42.

Penn-Trafford 12 8 12 6—38Butler 17 9 9 7—423-point goals: Penn-Trafford 1 (Hobaugh); Butler 6 (Fleeger 3, Wise, Cygan 2).

Friday: Butler vs. Bethel Park, WPIAL Class AAAA quarterfinals, site and time TBA