BUTLER TWP — Live by the trey, die by the trey. That’s the risky game Butler was forced to play Thursday night.

Facing a Norwin team with a lineup stocked with tall players, the Golden Tornado girls basketball team took its chances from beyond the arc and ended up falling on the sword.

Of Butler’s 39 attempts from the floor, 25 came from long range. Five makes in the first half helped the Tornado stay in the game, but the offense was slowed by 10 turnovers over the final two quarters of a 56-32 loss to the visiting Knights.

Norwin’s crew included 6-foot-1 center Lauren Palangio and 6-foot forward Kate Botti.

“It’s hard when the other team has four or five players on the court taller than what you have,” said Butler coach Mark Maier. “They (Knights) are the third-ranked team in the state.”

Butler remained almost exclusively on the outside in the first 16 minutes, taking 18 of its 21 shots from there. But sophomore Amelia McMichael drained three treys while Justine Forbes and Hannah Aldridge also hit 3-pointers and the Tornado trailed one-loss Norwin just 26-18 at halftime.

The Knights also took most of their early shots from behind the line — 15 of 22 — but focused more on getting inside in the second half. Paced by Palangio’s five buckets after the break, Norwin pulled away, leading 39-23 after three quarters.

“It’s about recognizing matchups,” said Norwin coach Brian Brozeski. “We don’t want to fall into the habit of getting points from just one area on the court or from just one or two players. We’ve been playing cohesively.”

Forbes’ 3-pointer cut Norwin’s lead to 30-23 with 5:30 left in the third, but the Knights (10-1, 2-0) closed the period with a 9-0 run.

The hole Butler was trying to emerge from simply became too deep.

“Norwin plays really sound defense,” said Maier. “They held (six of their first seven) opponents this season to less than 30 points.”

Palangio (16 points) and guard Kendall Berger (14) combined for 30 points.

Forbes scored 15 points and had seven rebounds for the Tornado (6-6, 1-1) while McMichael canned 10 points and grabbed eight boards.

The Knights went 12-2 in section play last season, but failed to win a playoff game.

“You never want to get too comfortable with what you’ve done,” Brozeski said. “We had to re-evaluate everything and we’re doing what we can to make sure that (early exit) doesn’t happen again.”

Butler’s loss snapped its four-game winning streak.

“The theory is you should learn more from a loss than you do from a win,” said Maier. “We’ll use this as a learning experience.”

NORWIN 56

Kendall Berger 5 1-2 14, Ava Kobus 2 0-0 6, Lauren Palangio 7 2-2 16, Kate Botti 2 0-0 4, Kendall Williams 1 0-0 3, Savannah Schneck 2 0-0 4, Bella Furno 3 0-0 7, Ava Christopher 1 0-0 2, Bailey Snowberger 0 0-0 0, Tori Sydeski 0 0-0 0, Averi Brozeski 0 0-0 0. Totals: 23 3-4 56.

BUTLER 32

Sydney Patterson 0 2-2 2, Justine Forbes 6 0-0 15, Hannah Aldridge 1 0-0 3, Amelia McMichael 3 1-2 10, Kelli Kovalick 1 0-0 2, Madison McGarrah 0 0-0 0, Jessica Chwalik 0 0-0 0, Avery Maier 0 0-0 0. Totals: 11 3-4 32.

Norwin 13 13 13 17 — 56

Butler 9 9 5 9 — 32

3-point goals: Norwin 7 (Berger 3, Kobus 2, Williams, Furno); Butler 7 (Forbes 3, McMichael 3, Aldridge)

Tuesday: Butler at North Allegheny