Tornado tumble
PETERS TWP – It seemed early as if Peters Township’s shots wouldn’t ever stop falling.
Butler took a while to figure out how to respond and, by then, it was too late. The Golden Tornado never held a lead in the two teams’ WPIAL Class 6A first-round matchup Friday night and ended up bowing out of the tournament with a 57-42 defeat.
The Indians (13-10) shot 11-of-14 (78.5%) in the initial period, as Journey Thompson, Natalie Wetzel, and Avana Syles each got out to hot starts. On the other end, outsized Butler was reluctant to forge into the paint. The home team stretched to guard the arc, too, making things even more difficult.
Butler (13-10) coach Mark Maier saw glimpses of the Indians’ zone set in their film against Mt. Lebanon, but not in the other contests he watched.
“On tape – we watched several games – they (Peters Township) didn’t shoot as well as they did tonight early,” Maier said. “And then I was surprised they played a zone. It stymied us is a good way of putting it.”
Before senior Macklin Hanley’s bucket that sent the game into the second quarter, Makenna Maier and Justine Forbes could only get on the board with treys.
“I didn’t think we had great looks. I thought we settled (with) one pass and a three (attempt),” Coach Maier said. “You’ve got to get it into the paint, kick it back out, and distort the zone. I didn’t think we did that early.”
At one point in the second stanza, the Golden Tornado was in a 23-point hole. A 10-point run that began late in the quarter and continued after halftime made the score 39-25.
Butler continued to chip away and after Maier and Forbes connected on three consecutive treys, the advantage was trimmed down to six points with 2:52 left in the third.
“Each of the last four games we won, we were down at some point and had to come screaming back,” Maier said. “Same thing here … All the momentum was on our side, but, you know, momentum is only as good as the next three that you make or miss.”
Peters Township head coach Bob Miles halted the run with a timeout.
“From what we knew, we thought we’d let them take the three,” Miles said. “They (Butler) took some really long shots that we weren’t expecting and they knocked them down. We thought with our size inside, we’d try to keep the penetration from happening.”
The Indians turned the ball over after the short break, leaving Maier to try a three from the wing. It bounced off the rim and two Thompson buckets followed. Butler would manage only two field goals in the final eight minutes.
“Since they (Peters Township) had such a big lead, they were almost playing not to lose,” Maier said. “He called that timeout and was like, ‘Okay, let’s play.’ We couldn’t get over the hump.”
The Golden Tornado are now 1-4 in the postseason since 2017. Before a win against Hempfield in the first round last year, the team hadn’t come out on the right side of a playoff outing in over 11 years.
BUTLER 42
Justine Forbes 5 3-4 17, Makenna Maier 6 1-2 17, Hannah Aldridge 1 0-0 3, Macklin Hanley 1 0-0 2, Aubree Tack 1 0-0 2, Maisy Gibson 0 1-2 1. Totals: 14 5-8 42.
PETERS TOWNSHIP 57
Journey Thompson 8 2-2 18, Avana Syles 6 0-0 14, Gemma Walker 4 5-7 13, Natalie Wetzel 3 2-3 8, Grace Kail 1 0-0 2, Savannah Meyers 1 0-0 2. Totals 23 9-12 57.
Butler 11 9 16 6 – 42
Peters Township 25 14 7 11 – 57
3-point goals: Butler 9 (Forbes 4, Maier 4, Aldridge); Peters Township 2 (Sayles 2)
