MANOR TWP, Armstrong County — It was the season opener for both teams, but the Knoch and Butler girls basketball teams played with playoff intensity Friday night at the Armstrong Tournament.

The Knights came away with a hard-fought 39-37 victory that went down to the final buzzer.

After a slow start that saw plenty of ball movement, both good and bad, things picked up in the second and third quarters when the majority of points were scored.

“They're a very well-coached team. They like to play like we do,” Knoch coach Chris Andreassi said of the Golden Tornado. “They like to press and play hard and (they play) half-court man-to-man defense.

“Both teams like to spread the floor. I'm not surprised it was that kind of a game.”

Butler coach Mark Maier echoed that sentiment: “Those were two teams battling it out. They made more plays than we did. Obviously, in a two-point game, you can analyze every possession and it's just not the ones at the end that count. It's the first one, it's the fifth one, it's the 50th one.”

Things opened up after an intense but low-scoring opening quarter, with both teams tallying 14 points in the second.

Junior guard Hannah Aldridge poured in three 3-pointers to help give the Golden Tornado a 20-18 halftime lead. Butler made four from beyond the arc in the period.

Knoch's Nina Shaw also caught fire in the second quarter and continued that into the third. The junior guard tallied 14 of her game-high 16 points in those two periods, including six from long range.

“She's a really good player,” Andreassi said of Shaw. “In the fourth quarter, she was cramping up and that slowed us. When she was running fluidly, the pace was quicker. But those last three minutes, she was cramping and that slowed the pace a little bit.”

Knoch took a six-point lead, 39-33, with 3:48 left in the game only to see Butler cut that margin to two, 39-37, with just over a minute remaining.

The Tornado resorted to fouling, but could not capitalize on the Knights' missing their free throw attempts.

Still, Butler had the ball in the final seconds only to miss an awkward running shot at the buzzer.

The quarter ended with four points being scored by each team.

“We didn't want to freeze the ball and not shoot, but once we got the lead we wanted to burn some clock,” Andreassi said. “I need to get them better prepared for that in future games.”

Butler managed a lone field goal and two free throws in the final period.

“I thought in the fourth quarter our execution wasn't great,” Maier said. “But they slowed it down and took the air out of (the game). “I think there were jitters in the first quarter, hopefully. And in the last quarter, people were playing it a little bit closer to the vest.

“It's one game and it's a journey of 22 games,” Maier said of Friday's setback. “We're proud of the girls for the way they came back. We have to figure out a way to make a couple more plays.”

The tournament continues Saturday, with Butler playing Punxsutawney at 1:30 p.m. and Knoch facing Armstrong at 3 p.m.

BUTLER 37

Aubrey Tack 1 0-0 2, Makenna Maier 1 2-4 5, Maisy Gibson 2 1-2 5, Justine Forbes 5 0-0 10, Megan Penrod 2 0-0 5, Hannah Aldridge 3 0-0 9, Macklin Hanley 0 1-2 1. Totals: 14 4-8 37. KNOCH 39

CeCe Kosecki 1 0-0 3, Hattie McGraw 0 0-1 0, Karlee Buterbaugh 2 1-2 5, Madilyn Boyer 4 0-1 8, Nina Shaw 7 0-0 16, Naturelle Ewing 3 0-0 7. Totals: 17 1-4 39.

Butler 6 14 13 4 — 37

Knoch 4 14 17 4 — 39

3-point goals: Butler 5 (Aldridge 3, Maier, Penrod); Knoch 4 (Shaw 2, Kosecki, Ewing).