BUTLER TWP — The points were hard to come by in Butler's Section 3-AAAA contest against Pine-Richland Monday.

The Rams, however, shook off their early woes, closing out the first half on a 10-0 run en route to a 39-25 victory.

Butler held a 6-3 lead with 7:45 remaining in the second quarter and did not score another point until 6:49 remained in the third quarter.

“To score just six points in a half, that's a killer,” said Butler coach Dorothea Epps. “To hold a team to 13 points in a half, you've got to find a way to score some points.”

Butler (4-6, 1-2) had a free throw apiece from Julia Baxter and Jasmine Bailey to give Butler a 2-0 lead before Pine-Richland's Kati Altman drained a 3-pointer with 32 seconds left in the first quarter.

MacKenzie O'Donnell answered with a basket to close out the first quarter — off a pass underneath from Jasmine Bailey — and another just 15 seconds into the second quarter before the Rams (6-3, 2-0) picked things up on the offensive side.

Rachel Verbanic scored, followed by a free throw from Maria Battaglia tied the game with 5:46 before the break.

Emily Johanson sandwiched two scores between a Brittany Byerly basket, then a free throw by Hannah Todorowski made it 13-6 at halftime.

“Butler's always been really good on defense,” said Rams coach Molly Copple, whose team has been averaging about 60 points a game. “Our defense is playing up to the way we expect. If we stay out of foul trouble, we'll be all right.”

Verbanic picked up her third foul with 6:32 left in the third quarter. The Tornado worked the ball inside to O'Donnell, who accounted for nine of the Tornado's 10 third-quarter points.

A 5-0 spurt by Butler — two baskets by O'Donnell and a free throw by Bailey — pulled the Tornado to within four, 15-11.

“After a while, they closed that down,” Epps said. “We wanted to go out with it, but when we'd kick it out, we need to look for scoring.”

The Rams still had a 17-13 lead before a 3-point play by Megan Evett and a score by Johanson started a 9-2 run to open up a 26-15 lead with four minutes left in the third quarter to pull away.

O'Donnell led Butler with 13 points, while Johanson keyed the Rams with a game-high 15 points.

“We held them to 13 points in a half and 39 for the game,” Epps said. “That's a good defensive effort. Even if we make a couple of baskets more in the first half, it changes things.

“We need to reward ourselves with the good defensive effort to the offensive end,” Epps added.

Notes: Kalynn Callihan's 3-pointer at the buzzer gave the Butler junior varsity team a 35-32 victory.

PINE-RICHLAND 39Hannah Todorowski 1 1-2 3, Emily Johanson 5 5-6 15, Brittany Byerly 2 0-2 4, Rachel Verbanic 1 0-0 2, Maria Battaglia 0 1-2 1, Marisa Hombosky 0 0-0 0, Kara Peters 3 0-0 6, Kati Altman 1 0-0 3, Megan Evett 2 1-1 5.

Totals: 15 8-13 39.

BUTLER 25Jennifer Barry 1 0-0 3, Mackenzie O'Donnell 6 1-4 13, Sam Marak 0 0-0 0, Jasmine Bailey 0 2-4 2, Julia Baxter 2 3-4 7, Makenzie Huey 0 0-1 0, Alyssa DiPippa 0 0-0 0, Natalie Barkus 0 0-0 0, Lauren Bresnahan 0 0-0 0, Kalynn Callihan 0 0-0 0.

Totals: 9 6-12 25.

Pine-Richland 3 10 13 13—39Butler 4 2 10 9—253-point goals: Pine-Richland 1 (Altman); Butler 1 (Barry).

Thursday: Butler at North Allegheny