WEXFORD — North Allegheny’s girls basketball team may have won its first meeting against Butler this season, but it did so while playing the Golden Tornado’s type of game.

Thursday night, the Tigers set the pace.

Four NA players scored in double figures as the host Tigers posted a 66-33 section victory.

North Allegheny had defeated Butler 36-21 on Jan. 12.

“We’ve been working really hard in practice,” said NA junior forward Maddy Fischer, who scored 14 points Thursday. “We pushed each other and knew what we had to do.”

Butler coach Joe Lewandowski figured he would see a different Tiger squad the second time.

“NA is a really good team,” he said. “Not many times are they going to come out and not play well.”

North Allegheny erased an early deficit and led 11-7 after the first quarter, then opened the second with a 9-2 run.

Jenna Kunst, who paced Butler with 15 points in the game, scored 10 of her team’s first 12 points. Rachel Martindale sank a trey with six seconds left in the first half to give NA a 27-18 edge at the break.

It was one of eight 3-pointers drained by the Tigers in the game. The team also converted four conventional 3-point plays on the night.

“We usually shoot a lot of 3s,” said Fischer. “We’re a pretty good rebounding team, so shooting from the outside doesn’t hurt us. Plus, we have some pretty good shooters.”

The Tigers (19-1, 8-1) began to display that in earnest in the third quarter when they hit on six of their eight field goal attempts.

A pair of conventional 3-point plays 57 seconds apart — one from Fischer and another from Martindale — helped NA push its lead to 36-22 midway into the quarter.

By the end of the period, Butler had totaled 27 points, with 24 of them coming from either Kunst or junior forward Alyssa Eyth. The latter scored nine points in the game, eight coming in the first half.

“Sometimes it comes down to what the (opposing) defense is doing, where they are slanting to,” said Lewandowski. “Both of them (Kunst and Eyth) are good players and they have been put in leadership roles this season. A lot of it comes down to open looks. They were getting them and making them.”

Martindale led the Tigers with 18 points. Hailey Zeise scored 12 and Piper Morningstar added 11.

“In the first game, Martindale didn’t score,” said Lewandowski. “Tonight, I think she hit everything.”

Tiger coach Spencer Stefko was unavailable for comment.

Despite the loss, Butler (10-8, 3-6) is guaranteed a WPIAL Class 6A playoff berth thanks to Seneca Valley’s 39-35 defeat of Shaler, also on Thursday.

The Golden Tornado were 3-19 overall last season and winless in section play.

“Everybody has made progress,” Lewandowski said of his players. “They’ve all gotten better.”

BUTLER 33

Nicole Pepmeyer 1 0-0 3, Alyssa Eyth 4 1-2 9, Kylee Lewandowski 1 0-0 3, Jenna Kunst 6 0-0 15, Emilee Altman 1 0-0 3, Morgan Gage 0 0-2 0, Audrey Hilliard 0 0-0 0, Mia Rader 0 0-0 0, Jordan Kauffman 0 0-0 0, Emma Monteleone 0 0-0 0, Sydney Hanratty 0 0-0 0, Julia Gibson 0 0-0 0, Hailey Metzger 0 0-0 0. Totals: 13 1-4 33.

NORTH ALLEGHENY 66

Audrey Lane 1 1-1 3, Courtney Roman 3 0-0 8, Rachel Martindale 6 3-3 18, Piper Morningstar 4 1-5 11, Hailey Zeise 5 1-3 12, Maddy Fischer 5 4-4 14 , Kristen Chomos 0 0-0 0, Brynn Serbin 0 0-0 0, Kat Balouris 0 0-0 0, Anna Sprys 0 0-0 0, Dana Manz 0 0-0 0, Mary Evankovich 0 0-0 0. Totals: 24 10-16 66.

Butler 7 11 9 6 — 33

North Allegheny11 16 18 21 — 66

3-point goals: Butler 6 (Kunst 3, Altman, Lewandowski, Pepmeyer); North Allegheny 8 (Martindale 3, Roman 2, Morningstar 2, Zeise).

Monday: Seneca Valley at Butler