PINE TWP — The Butler girls basketball team ran into a perfect storm of misfortune.

Foul trouble. Turnovers. Poor shooting. They all conspired to doom the Golden Tornado to a 43-36 road Section 3-AAAA loss to Pine-Richland Thursday night.

“I thought we did a real nice job of hanging in there,” said Butler coach Dorothea Epps. “It was just a play here or there, a turnover here or there, was the difference in the game.”

It didn't help that junior forward MacKenzie O'Donnell, who came into the contest as the second-leading scorer in Butler County, was a spectator for most of the game.

O'Donnell picked up three fouls within the first four minutes of the game.

Still, Butler (6-11, 3-6) hung in there without its leading scorer on the floor and trailed by just a point at the half.

“They took (O'Donnell) right out of it with those fouls,” Epps said. “We went into halftime down (18-17), which was a miracle because of their shear hard work and determination.”

O'Donnell returned to the floor to start the second half, but not long after banged her left shin off the bleachers while scrambling for a loose ball and left the game again.

When she returned, hobbled, a few minutes later, she picked up her fourth foul and went back to the bench.

Pine-Richland coach Molly Copple said her plan was to take O'Donnell and Butler's other post threat, Julia Baxter, out of the game.

“When they got into foul trouble early, that helped us a ton,” Copple said. “O'Donnell has been playing so well lately. It made me happy when she got that third foul.”

Pine-Richland (12-4, 7-1) helped keep the Tornado in the game with abysmal free-throw shooting.

The Rams were 2-of-13 from the line in the game, including a 1-of-10 stretch at one point.

“We're typically really good from the foul line,” said Copple. “Tonight we just weren't focused making our foul shots.”

Still, the Rams were able to extend their lead to 29-21 with two minutes remaining in the third quarter before Butler closed the period on a 7-0 run to get within a point again.

The Tornado couldn't keep that momentum going, however.

Pine-Richland opened up a 10-point lead five minutes into the fourth quarter and held on.

“We had combinations who haven't been out there together a lot (because of the foul trouble),” Epps said. “You only have so many timeouts to call to get regrouped.

“Even with that, they still weathered the storm,” Epps said. “To be in the game toward the end given what happened tonight, I'm just really proud of them.”

Jennifer Barry led Butler with 14 points, but the Golden Tornado shot a mere 26 percent from the floor.

Emily Johanson, who came into the game averaging 18 points per game, finished with a game-high 20 for the Rams.

“I always say Dorothea always has a team that is very difficult to beat, no matter their skill set or how deep they are,” Copple said. “Any win in this section, I'll take it.”

BUTLER 36Mackenzie Huey 1-1 0-0 2, Jennifer Barry 5-14 4-4 14, Alyssa DiPippa 0-5 2-4 2, Natalie Barkus 1-2 0-2 2, Morgan McLaughlin 0-0 0-0 0, Mackenzie O'Donnell 0-6 2-6 2, Sam Marak 3-8 0-0 7, Jasmine Bailey 0-3 0-2 0, Kalynn Callihan 0-4 0-0 0, Julia Baxter 3-7 0-0 6, Lauren Bresnahan 0-1 1-2 1.

Totals: 13-51 9-20 36.

PINE-RICHLAND 43Marisa Hombosky 1-3 0-1 0, Hannah Todorowski 2-7 1-3 5, Emily Johanson 10-17 0-4 20, Brittany Byerly 2-10 1-4 6, Kati Altman 0-0 0-0 0, Rachel Verbanac 4-6 0-0 8, Maria Battaglia 1-1 0-1 8.

Totals: 20-44 2-13 43.

Butler 9 8 11 8—36Pine-Richland 6 12 11 14—433-point goals: Butler 1 (Marak); Pine-Richland 1 (Byerly).

JV Score: Butler 36-20

Monday: North Allegheny at Butler