PITTSBURGH — Casie Cygan is making up for lost time.

The 2010 Butler graduate fell 40 points short of 1,000 points in her high school basketball career.

She’s well ahead of that chase in college.

Just 17 games into her sophomore season at La Roche College, Cygan has scored more than 550 career points. She leads the Redhawks with 16.3 points per game and has drained 44 3-pointers, shooting 40 percent from beyond the arc.

“I remember shooting 40 3s my senior year in high school,” Cygan said. “I don’t remember shooting this high of a percentage from out there.”

The 5-foot-5 wing sank a school-record eight treys in her team’s 77-46 win over Franciscan University last Monday.

“They sat back in a zone,” Cygan said. “They made it easy on us.”

Cygan has been making it difficult on defenders all season.

“Her performance hasn’t surprised me at all,” La Roche coach Eddie Benton Jr. said. “We saw how well she shot the basketball at Butler.

“Casie knows she has the green light to shoot when she’s open. We’ve got no restrictions on her game whatsoever.”

Cygan’s basketball career at Butler coincided with that of Olivia Bresnahan, a first team All-WPIAL selection now averaging 20 minutes per game as a sophomore at Florida State.

“There was never any competition between the two,” Butler coach Dorothea Epps said. “Neither ever worried about statistics. It was all about winning games.

“I know that’s the way Casie is now. She’s always been a great shooter, but she continues to develop her overall game. I’m proud of her.”

La Roche is off to a 13-4 start this year and is 10-0 in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference. The Redhawks finished 23-5 last year, won the AMCC regular season and tournament titles and reached the NCAA Division III Tournament for the first time in school history.

“It’s motivating to an athlete to break new ground like that,” Cygan said. “We lost that tournament game last year. Now we want to get back there and win.”

The Redhawks only have two seniors on their roster. Five sophomores, two transfers who are now juniors, and freshmen comprise the rest of the squad.

Benton, in his eighth season, believes this team can be something special.

“We reached the conference title game three years ago,” he said. “But this group has tireless energy to it and we’re pressing on defense for 40 minutes.

“I’m the type of coach who pushes his players. Coach Epps is that way in Butler and we play that same aggressive defensive style, so I know Casie is used to that.”

Cygan concurs.

“It’s pretty much the same system,” she said. “It’s made my transition rather easy.

“Our defense is ranked among the top 10 nationally in Division III. It’s what I’m working hardest at because that’s how we win.”

The Redhawks are allowing only 47.9 points per game.

“Casie’s been making a conscious effort to improve her defense, particularly off the ball,” Benton said. “She guards the other team’s small forward and her quickness helps her that way.

“She steps up her game every night. She’s such an intense player. She could break a number of records here.”

None of that is shocking to Epps.

“Casie’s worked hard for all of this,” Epps said. She’s on her way to a great college career.”