BUTLER TWP — When Alyssa DiPippa commits a foul, she gets “the look.”

It's a stern one from her Butler girls basketball coach Dorothea Epps. It's a finger-wagging, don't-do-that-again sort of glare.

And it's starting to sink in.

After picking up her second foul of the first half Monday night against Grove City, “the look” returned.

She didn't commit a foul the rest of the game and turned in a career night with 16 points and the game-winning shot with two seconds remaining.

“She got the stare,” Epps said. “But I'm proud of her. She stayed out of foul trouble.”

Keeping DiPippa on the floor is paramount for the Golden Tornado this season.

Butler is a different team with the junior point guard on the floor. With her on the bench in foul trouble during two games this season, the Golden Tornado struggled to score and committed turnovers in bunches.

That make DiPippa, arguable, one of the most important players in the Butler County area this season.

“We're just counting on her to do so much,” Epps said. “So much.”

DiPippa, who played quite a bit coming off the bench last season, knew well before this season that the onus would be on her.

She just didn't realize at the time how much.

DiPippa isn't quite sure how she has handled it so far early this season. She is averaging 12 points per game and has been a steadying force for the 3-1 Tornado.

“I hate these questions,” DiPippa said, laughing and looking at teammate Kalynn Callihan. “Got any tips?”

Callihan had none, so DiPippa answered the best way she knew how and how she usually approaches challenges: directly.

“How do I handle it? I just keep my head up the whole time, look to my teammates for support,” she said. “They help me keep going. I know I have to be their leader. I have to show them that I am confident so my attitude will feed off onto them.”

DiPippa ramped up her preparation this offseason, playing in a slew of games and readying herself mentally for the grind that awaited her this season.

Section 3-AAAA is not for the faint of heart.

“Starting back in the spring when we graduated all of our seniors, coach said I had to step it up and become a leader,” DiPippa said. “Throughout the whole summer she kept preaching to me that I was going to have to do it. I knew it was coming.

“We played a lot of games which gave me a lot of experience running the point,” she added. “All those summer scrimmages and tournaments that we played prepared me well.”

DiPippa has plenty of familiar faces around her. Butler has only one senior, Lauren Bresnahan, and DiPippa and three other juniors — Callihan, Julia Baxter and Danielle Hensel — are starters.

DiPippa said she is very close to her teammates, which has certainly helped her transition from a part-time player who scored 42 points in 22 games last season to one who has already scored 48 points in four games this season.

“We've been playing together for a really long time,” DiPippa said, looking at Callihan again. “I've been playing with her since the fourth grade.”