High school sports aren’t always about playoffs or championships.

Sometimes it’s just about effort — and still more importantly, pride.

Butler’s varsity girls basketball team showed plenty of both in the way it finished the 2023-24 season. At 4-15 and with only one section win, the Golden Tornado were out of the WPIAL playoff picture with three games to play.

Two of their final three games were on the road. The lone remaining home game was against Pine-Richland, a WPIAL playoff team that defeated Butler by 17 points only two weeks earlier.

The Tornado had high aspirations entering the season, hopeful of making the playoffs and possibly going on a bit of a run afterward.

When those goals were dashed, it would have been easy for these girls to go through the motions while playing out the string and just leaving it at that.

Instead, the exact opposite took place.

Butler traveled to Hempfield and claimed a 71-51 victory. Amelia McMichael scored 25 points in that game and Sydney Patterson added 15.

Then the team came home to host Pine-Richland, promptly falling behind 11-2 in the first quarter. The Rams had defeated the Tornado, 50-33, earlier.

No one could blame the Butler girls if the confidence to come back wasn’t there. But the Tornado eventually took the lead, only to fall behind by four points in the final minute.

Patterson took an inbound pass and drove the length of the court in 4.6 seconds, laying the ball in before the buzzer and giving her team a 53-52 victory. She scored 17 points, had six rebounds and four assists in the contest. McMichael tallied 27 points, 16 boards and five steals.

Most significant that night was sending the team’s lone senior, Jessica Chwalik, off with a win in her final home game. Chwalik battled injuries her entire high school career, but kept coming back. That undying effort was mirrored by her team in these final three games.

McMichael scored 16 points in Butler’s final game, a 46-36 win at Karns City.

McMichael and Patterson will be seniors next season. Guard-forward Avery Maier will be a senior as well, along with guard Cameryn Booher. Malina McElroy got plenty of minutes at point guard as a freshman this year.

No one knows how next season will go for this team. But plenty of experience returns and this three-game win streak to close the season provided a positive push into the off-season.

Butler girls coach Mark Maier said: “You never stop fighting. You never stop grinding, regardless of the circumstances.”

His team never stopped.

Butler’s girls have put the uniforms away. They will wear the pride they showed in themselves and their school all the way until those uniforms are pulled back out in December.

John Enrietto is sports editor of the Butler Eagle