ROSS TWP — The Butler girls basketball team fell into a familiar funk against North Hills. That made the Golden Tornado’s turnaround all the more satisfying for coach Dorothea Epps.

Butler shot 1-of-15 from the field in the first quarter before rallying to beat the Indians 47-43 in a Section 3-AAAA game Thursday night at North Hills Middle School.

Winning gave the Golden Tornado (7-2, 2-1) their fourth straight victory and moved them into third place in the section.

“Any time you can win on the road in our section, it doesn’t matter whether you’re the last-place team or first-place team, you’re going to be in a battle,” Epps said. “Any time you can get a win on the road, it’s a plus. Especially here, in North Hills, we always have trouble.”

Julia Baxter had a lot of trouble getting free. For most of the game, she had to battle through double teams to get space. Baxter finished with 27 points, 11 rebounds and five steals.

“I try to stay calm,” Baxter said. “I admit it, I’m a hothead. Keeping calm is helping me out. I just try to sing a little song in my head.”

Her dominance freed up room for Kalynn Callihan to make the game’s biggest basket. Callihan made a contested trey with 2:06 remaining to put Butler up for good, 43-40. It was the only field goal the Golden Tornado made in the fourth quarter.

“(Baxter) was double, trip, quadruple teamed. Whatever you want to say,” Epps said. “She kept fighting through it and managed to score. Callihan hit a couple good shots for us because that’s what we needed. She’s a horse on the inside.”

North Hills (7-6, 2-3) looked like it would shut down the Golden Tornado’s offense. Butler didn’t score for the first five minutes, as the Indians opened the game on a 9-0 run. Jaime Halloran was hot early, scoring seven of North Hills’ first 11 points.

Three fouls sent Halloran to the bench late in the first quarter. The Indians’ offense went to the bench with her.

“It changed the whole way the game is played,” Indians coach Lauren Wilmus. “We’re struggling now with those kinds of fouls. I don’t want to call them dumb fouls, but not being smart. … We need to learn from the fouls in the first period.”

Tough rebounding from Baxter and Lauren Bresnahan, who finished with seven points and seven rebounds, turned the momentum.

After the Indians’ Sarah Treser, who scored a team-high 14 points, made a 3-pointer to put North Hills ahead 19-12 in the second quarter, Butler closed the half on a 10-2 run.

Communication on defense was also key.

“We had to talk to one another and be loud and be a distraction to everybody,” Baxter said. “We’ve found our happy medium.”

Butler led 38-35 at the end of the third quarter and needed its defense to seal the win. In the fourth quarter, the Indians focused on taking away Baxter. North Hills tied the game at 40 with 2:42 remaining before Callihan’s 3-pointer turned the game.

“We thought we had to buckle down on the defense,” Epps said. “Defensively, we switched to different defenses to keep them on their toes a little bit. We thought our man should be able to keep them down.”

BUTLER 47

Alyssa DiPippa 2 0-1 5, Danielle Hensel 0 2-3 2, Kalynn Callihan 2 0-0 6, Lauren Bresnahan 2 3-3 7, Julia Baxter 10 7-12 27, Paige Lambermont 0 0-0 0, Ronni Guiney 0 0-0 0. Totals: 16 12-19 47.

NORTH HILLS 43

Sarah Treser 5 0-2 14, Jamie Halloran 5 2-2 13, Ciara Barry 1 0-0 2, Breanna Bertram 2 2-5 6, Brandi Williams 1 0-0 2, Megan Taschner 0 0-0 0, Scout Cheeks 1 2-4 2, Sierra Ungerman 1 0-2 2. Totals: 16 6-15 43.

Butler 7 15 16 9 — 47

North Hills11 10 14 8 — 43

3-point goals: Butler 2 (Callihan 2); North Hills 5 (Treser 4, Halloran

JV: North Hills 36-30

Saturday: Butler at Pine-Richland