Late 10-2 run costly in Butler girls' defeat
BUTLER TWP — Kylee Lewandowski caught the pass and in a fluid motion put up a 3-point shot that found nothing but net.
It gave a young Butler girls basketball team a three-point lead midway through the fourth quarter.
It looked like the Golden Tornado were on their way to their third victory in four games.
But it wasn't meant to be.
New Castle rallied with a 10-2 run and salted the game away at the foul line, handing Butler a 40-35 home loss Thursday night.
“We talked about the ALFA approach,” said Butler coach Joe Lewandowski. “Admit mistakes, learn from them and forget about them. We can't wait to watch this film and learn some things from it.”
Butler (2-2) came out sluggish and trailed 7-2 early, but closed the first quarter on a 5-0 run.
The Tornado entered the half up 15-13 and was leading 27-24 after the Kylee Lewandowski 3-pointer.
But the Hurricanes added points to the scoreboard from the free throw line and by a few clutch shots by Jaldyn Eggelston, who put up six of her 10 points in the final frame.
New Castle did a good job at limiting Butler in the paint. It didn't help that Tornado forward Jenna Kunst was in foul trouble and finished with just six points.
“We didn't play well,” Joe Lewandowski said. “I thought we played sort of back on our heels tonight.
“We took three steps forward, and now we just took a step back tonight,” the coach added. “It's better than taking two or three steps back. Keep working and keep battling.”
Kayla Harvey led New Castle with 15 points.
“Down low on the boards, Kayla was just a beast,” said first-year New Castle coach Kara Joseph. “We just wanted it and went out and grabbed it.”
New Castle's defense held Butler to just 11-of-39 shooting.
Julia Gibson and Kylee Lewandowski led the Tornado with seven points a piece.“We always stress defense,” Joseph said. “Defense wins championships. Always.”Joseph is a veteran of the Butler-New Castle battles. A 2007 New Castle graduate, she played in many of these rivalry games.“It was definitely a great win for us and a big push in the right direction,” Joseph said. “The Butler-New Castle matchup is fond to me. I stressed to them what this game meant.”For Butler, it meant another chance to get experience.“We had a chance. We had opportunities,” Coach Lewandowski said. “Those are the ones where you're working now to close them out. That's when you really know you've turned the corner. Now, you're in every single game you're playing. Now, you have to figure out how to win these types of games.“The next time we're in a game like this,” he added. “We'll have this experience to draw from, know what we did wrong and know what we need to do to win.”NEW CASTLE 40Tanai Brothers 1-1 4-8 7, Lindsay Frabotta 1-4 2-2 4, Kayla Harvey 4-7 7-8 15, Jaldyn Eggelston 4-12 23-10, Mariah Shepherd 2-4 0-0 4, Alaya Respress 0-1 0-0 0, Olivia Valenti 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 12-29 15-21 40.BUTLER 35Mia Rader 0-5 0-0 0, Alyssa Eyth 1-10 5-6 6, Kylee Lewandowski 3-8 0-2 7, jenna Kunst 2-7 2-2 6, Julia Gibson 3-4 1-1 7, Nicole Repmeyer 0-3 0-0 0, Audrey Hilliard 1-1 2-2 5, Morgan Gage 0-0 0-0 0, Emilee Altman 1-1 0-0 3, Heidi Gross 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 11-39 10-13 35.New Castle 7 6 6 21 — 40Butler7 8 7 13 — 353-point goals: New Castle (Brothers); Butler 3 (Lewandowski, Hilliard, Altman)Monday: Moon at Butler
