BUTLER TWP — The shooting accuracy wasn’t there. The defensive intensity certainly was.

And Butler turned the latter up a notch in the second half of the Golden Tornado’s 49-33 non-section girls basketball victory over visiting Sharpsville on Saturday. The 33 points allowed matched a season-low for the Tornado. They defeated Kiski Area, 63-33, on Dec. 9.

Sharpsville (5-9) managed only 12 points in the second half after pulling within 25-21 at halftime on a buzzer-beating trey by Chasie Fry. But the Blue Devils managed just four field goals in the second half.

“We weren’t scoring, but we were taking good shots,” Butler coach Mark Maier said. “We had layups roll off, 3-pointers were missing the mark ... You’re not always going to shoot 50%, 70%, those shots aren’t always going to fall.

“But holding an opponent to 12 points in the second half of a game? I love that.”

The Tornado (9-7) sank only eight of 30 shots from the field in the first half. Butler did sink 10 of 11 free throws on the day and committed only eight turnovers — four in the first three quarters — to Sharpsville’s 16.

“I liked the way we played. We just didn’t shoot well,” Maier said. “We rebounded much better in the second half.”

The Blue Devils had two big girls inside, Breanna Hanley and Tori Kimpon, who collected 11 and 10 rebounds, respectively.

“We came down here and competed hard. That’s all we wanted today,” Sharpsville coach Robert Hubbard said. “We battled hard inside. We’re a 3A school and we wanted to play a 6A school because we want to challenge our players and make them better.

“We’ve played Mohawk, Laurel, Union (New Castle), now Butler ... We enjoy coming down and taking on WPIAL schools. You get better by playing as many quality teams as you can.”

The bulk of the Tornado’s offense came from Justine Forbes and Amelia McMichael. Forbes tallied 20 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and three steals. McMichael had 18 points and nine boards.

They combined to attempt 26 of Butler’s 30 shots from the floor in the first half.

“We need to develop that third scorer,” Maier admitted. “Jess Chwalik was our third scorer today with five points and she only played a few minutes. Basketball is not an equal opportunity sport when it comes to offense. Justine and Amelia are going to lead us. But we do need more girls to get involved in the offense.”

Butler used a 9-0 run early in the fourth quarter to extend a 37-29 lead to a 46-29 advantage with 5:37 remaining. Forbes had a pair of layups during that run, McMichael added a layup and Chwalik nailed a trey.

Sydney Patterson had five assists for Butler while Hannah Aldridge added four.

Kimpon paced Sharpsville with 11 points. She was the only Blue Devil player in double figures.

“Those two girls inside rebounded well for them,” McMichael said. “We’re not used to facing two strong inside defenders like that in a game. We had to work harder on the boards in the second half.”

The Tornado do not play again until Friday night, hosting Seneca Valley at 6 p.m. as part of a girls-boys doubleheader.

“Our last five games now are all section games,” Maier said. “This is the stretch run and we need to be at our best.”

SHARPSVILLE 33

Paige Doyle 0-0 0-0 0, Chasie Fry 2-6 1-2 7, Tori Kimpon 5-15 0-0 11, Paige Messett 0-3 0-0 0, Macie Steiner 2-3 2-3 6, Lily Palko 1-15 0-0 2, Breanna Hanley 2-4 3-4 7. Totals: 12-46 6-9 33

BUTLER 49

Jessica Chwalik 1-3 2-2 5, Sydney Patterson 1-3 0-0 2, Justine Forbes 8-20 2-3 20, Hannah Aldridge 0-2 0-0 0, Tori Stevenson 0-0 0-0 0, Madi McGarrah 1-4 0-0 2, Amelia McMichael 5-18 5-6 18, Avery Maier 0-0 0-0 0, Kelli Kovalick 1-2 0-0 2, Hope Look 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 17-52 10-11 49.

Sharpsville 11 10 7 5 — 33

Butler 14 11 12 12 — 49

3-point goals: Sharpsville 3 (Fry 2, Kimpon), Butyler 5 (Forges 2, McMichael 3)

JV: Butler, 50-18 (S: Brooklyn Ramsey 5, Ryleigh Fry 5; B: Jessica Chjwalik 11, Casey Clouse 10)

Friday: Seneca Valley at Butler