BUTLER TWP — Butler's winning streak is intact. So is its personality.

Olivia Bresnahan scored 22 points and Casie Cygan added 20 Wednesday night as the Golden Tornado outlasted road-weary Altoona in a 53-42 girls basketball victory.

The win marked Butler's 11th in a row. The previous 10 were all Section 3-AAAA contests.

"That's what had me concerned," Butler coach Dorothea Epps said. "This was our first nonsection game in a long time and our girls were coming off an emotional win over our archrival (North Allegheny) two days ago.

"I was wondering if we'd have anything left for this game."

Butler (13-5, 10-0) appeared lethargic in the first half, falling behind 15-10 early in the second quarter against an Altoona team making its seventh road appearance in nine games.

The Tornado used an 11-0 run to assume a 21-15 lead and led by four points at the intermission.

"The girls didn't stay with the game plan early and that rarely happens. ... Thank God for that run or we're in trouble. Altoona made that long trip here, came out and played us tough," Epps said.

The Lions (9-7) never regained the lead. A 9-0 run gave Butler a double-digit advantage in the third quarter and the Tornado lead peaked at 15 on a pair of Bresnahan free throws with 1:49 to play.

"We've struggled with our perimeter game all year," Altoona coach Craig Long said. "Our two inside players, Maryssa Moyer and Lysa Mealing, have played well, but we're not complementing them outside."

Moyer led Altoona with 13 points and Mealing added nine points and 13 of her team's 29 rebounds.

Bresnahan had six rebounds, five assists and two steals to go with her 22 points. Cygan snared seven of Butler's 31 rebounds.

Bresnahan and Cygan have produced the bulk of the Tornado's points all season.

"They get the headlines because they do the scoring, but I've got a bunch of other girls doing some dirty work," Epps said.

Katresa Savisky had five rebounds Wednesday. Emily Wise, Ali Sedwick and Jasmine Bailey "gave us a lot of quality minutes defensively," Epps said.

"We get a third girl to give us eight or nine points on a given night and that's OK," the coach added. "I like the fact that it's not the same girl. We're harder to scout that way."

Altoona dropped a 45-40 decision at North Allegheny last week and travels to Shaler later this month.

"Two-hour bus trips mean nothing to us" Long said. "We go where the competition is."

ALTOONA 42Courtney Dry 0-5 0-0 0, Kelly Davis 3-7 0-0 6, Jessica Knott 2-6 0-0 5, Courtney Becker 0-0 0-0 0, Shelby Reimer 2-9 2-2 7, Lysa Mealing 2-5 5-6 9, Brittany Smith 1-1 0-1 2, Maryssa Moyer 6-13 1-3 13.

Totals: 16-46 8-12 42.

BUTLER 53Casey Fleeger 0-5 5-6 5, Katresa Savisky 0-3 0-0 0, Becky Nowacki 2-2 0-0 4, Olivia Bresnahan 7-10 7-9 22, Amanda Dymun 1-1 0-0 2, Ali Sedwick 0-3 0-0 0, Jasmine Bailey 0-1 0-0 0, Emily Wise 0-1 0-0 0, Casie Cygan 8-16 2-4 20.

Totals: 18-42 14-19 53.

Altoona 8 12 9 13—42Butler 10 14 12 17—533-point goals: Altoona 2 (Knott, Reimer); Butler 3 (Bresnahan, Savisky 2).

Junior varsity: Butler, 40-38 (B: Ali Sedwick 11, A: Courtney Becker 11 Ashley Lidwell 10)

Friday: Butler at Fox Chapel