BUTLER TWP — Bethel Park defeated Butler in December 2006. The Golden Tornado returned the favor the following year.

Since then, Dorothea Epps and Jonna Burke called a truce.

"We're good friends and it just wasn't fun," said Burke, the Black Hawks girls basketball coach. "We'd rather be allies, calling each other and helping each other, rather than playing each other."

Epps agreed.

"Going up against her was difficult," the Butler coach said. "It's always hard competing against a friend, so we decided not to play each other anymore."

Now they have to.

Butler (17-5) rides a 15-game winning streak into its WPIAL Class AAAA quarterfinal game against Bethel Park (17-5) at 6:30 p.m. Friday at North Hills High.

And that's OK with them.

"These are the circumstances when you want to be playing because it means both programs are doing well," Epps said.

Burke was 123-89 in eight years as the Butler girls basketball coach, with Epps as an assistant for part of that time, before moving on to alma mater Bethel Park in 2003. She now has more than 250 career wins.

Epps has won 117 games in seven seasons since succeeding Burke at Butler.

Now they meet in the playoffs for the first time.

The Black Hawks lost their final three regular season games before posting a 53-43 win over McKeesport to begin the playoffs. Before that losing skid, Bethel Park had surrendered 50 points in a game only twice.

Bethel tied Mount Lebanon for the stingiest defense in WPIAL Quad-A, allowing 38.3 points per contest.

"Jonna was an offensive coach when she first got there," Epps said. "Their defense has really picked up over the past couple of years.

"To advance in the playoffs, you need to play great defense and they do. My big concern is how well we'll be able to score against it."

Butler has Olivia Bresnahan for starters. The senior guard led Butler County with 18.1 points per game. She's averaging 10 rebounds, eight assists and six steals per game as well. Casie Cygan nets 15.6 points per game.

Burke said her team has played man-to-man defense in 20 of its 22 games and has been working on different schemes to slow the deft ball-handling of Bresnahan.

"I don't have an Olivia Bresnahan in my gym," Burke said. "Nobody does, You can't really simulate how she handles the ball."

While Butler has a veteran lineup, so does Bethel. Seniors Danielle McNabb and Alexandra Hay, juniors Candace Martino and Kara Rayburn are returning starters. McNabb and Martino average 14 points per game.

The winner of this game clinches a state tournament berth and a trip to the WPIAL semifinals.

"Our team hasn't been in the state tournament for two years. We want to go back. I'm sure they do, too," Burke said.

"Both teams want to advance," Epps said. "Unfortunately, we're standing in each other's way."