Butler girls falter at home
BUTLER TWP — Looking for third place in Section 1-6A Monday night, Butler’s girls basketball team found its third straight defeat instead.
After a Justine Forbes free throw knotted the game at 31 — the fifth tie of the night — with 6:47 left in the third quarter, Hempfield went on a 10-2 run and never trailed again in posting a 59-49 victory on the Golden Tornado’s home floor.
“This was frustrating and disappointing,” Butler coach Mark Maier said. “Definitely not one of our better performances and that all starts at the top.”
The Tornado (10-10, 4-5) used a 17-2 run early to grab a 19-10 lead six minutes into the contest. The Spartans (9-11, 3-6) countered with a 15-2 run of their own to assume a 25-21 lead. They took control of the game in the second half,.
“We talked at halftime about face-guarding No.’s 10 (Forbes) and 32 (Amelia McMichael),” Hempfield coach Tom Brush said. “They were on fire early in the game. We made it much tougher on them in the second half and that made a big difference.”
Forbes scored 23 points, grabbed five rebounds and had three assists for Butler. McMichael wound up with 16 points and 11 boards.
Madi McGarrah chipped in 10 points and five rebounds for the Tornado, but no other Butler player scored a point.
“I don’t think any team in Class 6A is going to win a game with only three players scoring,” Maier said. “That makes you too easy to defend.
“Coming off lopsided losses to Norwin and North Allegheny, I thought we’d come out with more fire tonight. We started well, but they (Hempfield) were beating us to the 50-50 balls and had more energy than we seemed to have.
“Hustle is one of those controllable things. You can’t lose controllables. When you lose controllables, you usually lose the game,” Maier added.
An Ashley Hozni trey snapped the 31-31 tie in the third quarter for the Spartans. Brooke McCoy added a trey moments later and Hempfield took a 46-38 lead into the final quarter.
Butler never got closer than seven points the rest of the way. Hozni sank four free throws in the final 30 seconds to spoil any hopes of a last-ditch Tornado rally.
“We came out here tonight knowing we needed this game to stay alive for the playoffs,” Brush said. “This was one of our stronger efforts of the season. We really needed this one.”
The Spartans entered the game having dropped seven of their previous eight games. Hempfield will make the playoffs with a win Thursday over North Allegheny or a Butler win at Pine-Richland.
McCoy had 18 points, 11 rebounds, three steals and three assists for Hempfield. Hozni had 15 points, Sarah Podkul 10 points. McCoy has committed to play basketball for Grove City College next year.
“Brooke had a breakout game tonight,” Brush said.
The Totnado — already in the WPIAL: playoffs — can snare third place in the section with a win Thursday.
“It’s back to the drawing board for us,” Maier said.
HEMPFIELD 59
Madalyn Pevarnik 1-4 2-2 4, Ashley Hozni 4-8 6-7 15, Jayme Flock 0-1 0-0 0, Sarah Podkul 4-8 2-4 10, Allison Cervola 0-1 2-2 2, Ava Shipman 3-6 0-0 6, Brooke McCoy 7-12 0-1 18, Mia Shipman 1-2 2-2 4, Aylana Martin 0-2 0-0 0. Totals: 20-44 14-18 59.
BUTLER 49
Sydney Patterson 0-4 0-0 0, Justine Forbes 9-14 3-3 23, Hannah Aldridge 0-5 0-2 0, Tori Stevenson 0-1 0-0 0, Madi McGarrah 4-13 0-0 10, Avery Maier 0-0 0-0 0, Amelia McMichael 5-14 4-4 16, Kelli Kovalick 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 18-50 7-9 49.
Hempfield 14 17 15 13 — 59
Butler 19 9 10 11 — 49
3-point goals: Hempfield 5 (Hozni, McCoy 4), Butler 6 (Forbes 2, McGarrah 2, McMichael 2)
Thursday: Butler at Pine-Richland
