BUTLER TWP — Seeing Shaler's lack of size, Butler coach Dorothea Epps wanted to exploit that weakness.

The Tornado did that Monday — again and again and again.

The idea of feeding MacKenzie O'Donnell the ball underneath was the game plan, one that took off in the second half.

The 5-foot-11 junior forward scored 23 of her career-high 29 points in the second half to lead the Tornado past the Titans 48-44 in a key Section 1-AAAA game.

“She's our top scorer, our big threat,” Epps said of O'Donnell. “When we saw they were small, we wanted to take advantage of that.

“Sometimes we forced it in, but we were going with the percentages. We cleaned up a lot of misses and kept our possessions going,” Epps added.

Butler (6-10, 3-5) had trailed 16-11 with 1:37 remaining in the first half before a 13-3 Tornado run — highlighted by eight points from O'Donnell and capped by a Jennifer Barry 3-pointer — made it a 24-19 lead with 3:47 left in the third quarter.

“We started running different plays and finally found one that was working,” O'Donnell said. “The passes got better. I think our team got fired up. We lost the last time (a 41-33 Titans' win Dec. 19) so we know we have to win from here on out.

“We worked the passes in and we worked as a team,” O'Donnell added.

Shaler (9-7, 3-5) would eventually knot the game at 28 before O'Donnell sank two free throws and added a putback to close out the quarter to give Butler a four-point lead.

O'Donnell opened the fourth quarter with a free throw and another basket to give Butler its biggest advantage — seven points — with 6:35 remaining.

With Butler holding a 37-30 lead, Kate Potter hit a 3-pointer and followed up with another score to make it 37-35 with 4:43 to play.

Butler answered with a score by O'Donnell and a layup from Julia Baxter for a 41-35 lead.

Shaler would trim the deficit to two points twice, the latter with 1:11 to play when C.J. Harris drained a 3-pointer to make it 46-44.

The Tornado added a free throw by Natalie Barkus with 37.3 seconds to go. The Titans' Abbey Conrad could have trimmed the deficit to one point but missed a pair of free throws with 29 seconds left.

Sam Marak sank one of two free throws a few seconds later, which would close out the scoring.

“This was a very big win for us,” said O'Donnell, as the Tornado moved into a tie with Shaler for fourth place in the section.

“We won our last two games (a 45-35 win over North Hills Thursday) so we have to keep it going. We're all fired up,” O'Donnell added.

The Tornado will try to make it three wins in a row when they travel to Pine-Richland Thursday.

“For us, any win is a great win,” Epps said. “For most of the season, I thought the team has gotten better and better.

“We're a pretty good team when we defend. Those girls find a way to get it done.”

Notes: Shaler received 13 points from Potter and 12 from Ashley Domachowski while Barry added nine points for Butler. ... O'Donnell had 27 points in a 59-57 loss to Franklin Regional Jan. 10 and 21 against New Castle in the season-ending game last year.

SHALER 44Courtney Bauer 2 0-0 4, Ashley Domachowski 5 2-5 12, Cate Potter 4 2-2 13, C.J. Harris 2 2-2 7, Abbey Conrad 0 0-2 0, Paige Quinn 1 2-2 4, Liz Kline 1 2-2 4, Andrea Lydon 0 0-0 0, Brianna Schwartz 0 0-0 0, Maggie Soeder 0 0-0 0.

Totals: 15 10-15 44.

BUTLER 48Jennifer Barry 4 0-0 9, Mackenzie O'Donnell 10 9-15 29, Sam Marak 0 2-4 2, Jasmine Bailey 0 0-0 0, Julia Baxter 2 0-0 4, Makenzie Huey 0 0-0 0, Alyssa DiPippa 0 0-1 0, Morgan McLaughlin 0 0-0 0, Lauren Bresnahan 0 0-0 0, Kalynn Callihan 0 0-0 0.

Totals: 16 15-26 48.

Shaler 7 9 12 16—44Butler 6 9 17 16—483-point goals: Shaler 4 (Potter 3, Harris); Butler 1 (Barry).

Thursday: Butler at Pine-Richland