SHALER TWP — Amy Achesinski was on her game Tuesday night — defensively even more than offensively.

Butler's junior center limited Shaler's biggest scoring threat, Jill DiNucci, to two points and only three field goal attempts as the Golden Tornado cruised to a 53-34 girls basketball triumph over the Titans.

"We've been working with Amy on her defense and it was outstanding tonight," Butler coach Dorothea Epps said. "It was big, too, because she (DiNucci) is their go-to player.

"With her taken out of the equation, they never got into their offense."

DiNucci, Shaler's 5-foot-11 senior center and 1,000-point scorer, and teammate Melissa McQuade entered the game averaging 14 points each.

While McQuade led the Titans (6-4, 0-3) with 12 points, DiNucci spent most of the fourth quarter watching from the bench.

"I don't think they did anything special against her," Shaler coach Eric Mozzetti said. "It was just a bad game. … This should never happen to her.

"Achesinski played well. She did what she had to do and we didn't do what we had to do to stop her."

Achesinski paced Butler (9-2, 2-0) with 22 points and nine rebounds. The Tornado won their fifth straight game.

The 53 points scored by Butler marked the most allowed by Shaler this season. The Titans entered the night allowing 39.6 points per game.

"I definitely get more fired up defensively when the other team has a strong (post) player," Achesinski said. "Our plan was to try to take DiNucci's offense away.

"When I noticed she wasn't getting many points or rebounds … I figured we were doing something right."

Butler never trailed in the game and shot out to a 10-3 lead when senior Julie Ehrman came off the bench to nail a pair of 3-pointers.

Leading by seven at halftime, the Tornado went on a 14-3 run to begin the third quarter and opened a 39-21 lead with 2:54 left in the period.

The Titans never got closer than 13 the rest of the way.

While Ehrman wound up with three treys off the bench, sophomore guard Lyndsy Day came off the pine to record four steals as Butler turned up the defensive pressure in the second half.

Maria Baroffio had three assists for Butler.

Butler's lead peaked at 53-32 when Achesinski stuck back an offensive rebound with 4:04 remaining.

"I love this team," Achesinski said. "We can go so deep off the bench that foul trouble really isn't a problem. We can play aggressive defensively."

Especially against the opposition's biggest scoring threat.

"Our goal this year is to not let the other team's best player beat us," Epps said. "We let that happen too many times last year.

"Amy doesn't always guard the other team's best scorer, but her defense down low is still critical to us."

The Tornado had a 33-21 edge in rebounding and won big despite suffering 22 turnovers. Shaler had 18 turnovers.

Libby Soeder contributed 11 points for Shaler, which lost for the fourth time in five games after a 5-0 start.

"In our section, you have to play your best game or you're going to lose," Mozzetti said. "We haven't been playing our best."

Shaler rallied from 10 points down in the fourth quarter to win the junior varsity game, 55-47, in overtime. Two Titans combined to score all 10 of the team's field goals, but Shaler sank 35 of 40 free throws in the contest.

BUTLER 53

Abby Herrit 0-0 0-1 0, Rachel Barry 1-3 2-4 4, Lyndsy Day 1-4 3-4 6, Kelly Crater 0-0 2-2 2, Jen Lesniewski 0-0 0-0 0, Liz Schultz 0-0 0-0 0, Amy Achesinski 8-14 6-9 22, Maria Baroffio 3-6 0-0 7, Julie Ehrman 3-5 0-0 9, Samantha Karns 0-0 1-2 1, Ashley Nocera 1-6 0-0 2, Michelle Ritchey 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 17-38 14-22 53

SHALER 34

Val Smolter 1-2 0-1 2, Kristen Devlin 0-0 0-0 0, Shelly Grenesko 0-3 2-2 2, Joci DeLaney 0-0 0-0 0, Melissa McQuade 5-9 1-2 12, Libby Soeder 4-11 3-6 11, Julianne Harris 2-5 1-2 5, Julie Stampfle 0-1 0-2 0, Jackie Sauer 0-5 0-0 0,Jill DiNucci 1-3 0-0 2. Totals: 13-39 7-15 34

3-point goals:

Day, Ehrman 3, Baroffio; McQuade

JV:

Shaler, 55-47, OT (B-Erica Miller 11, S-Jackie Sauer 21)

Thursday:

Seneca Valley @ Butler