BUTLER TWP — Poor starts doomed both the Butler County Community College men’s and women’s basketball teams Wednesday night.

The Pioneer women missed their first 13 shots and were 4-of-56 from the floor at one point in an 83-41 home loss to Mercyhurst North East.

Meanwhile, the BC3 men fell behind 62-33 at the half in a 102-68 setback to the Saints.

“The women came out flat, flatter than a pancake,” said Butler men’s and women’s basketball coach Dick Hartung. “The men played hard for 40 minutes. They were just overmatched.”

The Butler women were down 10-0 after just 2 minutes.

The Pioneers did recover briefly and trailed 20-10 with a little more than 8 minutes remaining in the first half, but the Saints rolled off 43 of the next 45 points to lead 63-12.

The Butler scoring drought, which lasted nearly 16 minutes of game time, was finally ended when Emily Wise hit a 3-pointer.

At that point, the Pioneers were shooting 7 percent from the floor.

“It was crazy,” said sophomore guard Casey Fleeger, a Butler High graduate. “We have good shooters. Nothing was going in.”

The Pioneers missed their first 20 shots of the second half.

Still, Butler (2-3) finished strong against the athletic, but thin, Saints.

Mercyhurst (5-3) had just seven players in uniform. So did Butler.

“The second half, I thought they played the way they are capable of and they competed,” Hartung said.

The Pioneers outscored Mercyhurst 29-20 over the final 11 minutes of the game.

Jackie Diez, who scored 37 points on Saturday in a win over Pitt-Titusville, led the Pioneers with 19 points.

She wasn’t immune to the poor-shooting bug, however. Diaz was 8-of-31 from the field, including 0-for-11 from 3-point range.

“She had a bad first half tonight, but she’s a talented young lady,” Hartung said. “She just has to maintain it.”

As a team, the Pioneers were 2-of-27 from behind the arc.

The BC3 men also struggled in the first half of their loss.

The Pioneers (0-7) fell behind 16-4 after 5 minutes and never challenged the Saints.

Like the women, the men had a much better second half.

“We were just overwhelmed by their size and speed,” Hartung said. “The men, they didn’t come out flat. They kept coming and they didn’t quit.

“I know the boys are 0-7,” Hartung added. “But it may be the toughest schedule we ever started with.”

Antawane Davis scored 21 points to lead the Pioneers. He also paced BC3 with a game-high 26 points in a 70-62 loss to UPT on Saturday.

Mercyhurst (4-5) had 14 players score and had four in double digits, led by Artie Smith and Cameron Nesbit who each scored 13.

WomenMERCYHURST NE 83Paula Harrison 2-12 0-0 6, Takeisha Harden 4-13 0-0 8, Lenay Simms 11-18 2-4 24, Jonesha Warren 4-9 3-6 11, Darnesha Tomlinson 5-14 0-0 12, Brittany Campbell 3-6 0-0 8, Sharika McGill 6-10 2-3 14.

Totals: 35-82 7-13 83.

BCCC 41Casey Fleeger 2-15 1-2 6, Jacqueline Diaz 8-31 3-5 19, Emily Wise 2-13 2-2 7, Karyn Larson 3-12 3-4 9, Erica Schultheis 0-7 0-1 0, Samantha Sharpless 0-0 0-0 0, Heather Cooper 0-0 0-0 0, Brittany Kellerman 0-0 0-0 0.

Totals: 15-78 9-14 41.

Halftime score: Mercyhurst NE 46-12

3-point goals: Mercyhurst NE 6 (Harrison 2, Tomlinson 2, Campbell 2); BCCC 2 (Fleeger, Wise).

MenMERCYHURST NE 102Dejuan McGaughy 3-12 2-2 8, Ben Jones 4-10 0-1 9, Anthony Jones 4-8 0-0 8, Geovante Rose 3-8 4-8 10, Cameron Nesbit 5-7 3-6 13, Cam Atta 4-6 1-4 9, Artie Smith 5-8 0-0 13, Terrence Jennings 0-3 2-3 2, Samir Newsome 3-4 0-0 6, Dainen Lewis 3-6 0-0 6, Kevin Allen 1-5 0-0 2, Nate Lalama 1-3 0-0 2, Wes Henry 4-8 0-1 11, Malcolm Weston 0-2 3-6 3.

Totals: 40-91 15-31 102.

BCCC 68Corey Miller 1-1 1-2 3, John Tyler 5-12 3-6 13, Antawane Davis 8-21 1-2 21, William Smith 3-8 2-5 8, Alec McDeavitt 1-6 1-4 3, Kevin Rummel 2-4 0-0 5, Stephen Drake 3-4 0-0 8, Brady Roth 0-1 0-0 0, Kendrick Payno 2-6 2-3 7.

Totals: 25-63 10-22 68.

Halftime score: Mercyhurst NE 62-33

3-point goals: Mercyhurst NE 7 (Jones, Smith 3, Henry 3); BCCC 8 (Davis 4, Rummel, Drake 2, Payno).