BUTLER TWP— Plenty of familiar names will be back on the basketball court for Butler, Cody Fleeger, Mike Pratkanis, Olivia Bresnahan and Karissa King among them.

The two biggest names from last season, Sean Lowry and Amy Achesinski, have moved on, however.

Lowry averaged 13.5 points, eight rebounds and three steals per game despite playing on a bad knee and is now attending U.S. Navy Academy prep school and playing basketball there.

Achesinski graduated with 1,525 points, third most in Golden Tornado history, and is playing at Mercyhurst College this year.

"This is the first time in years that we haven't had a big post player to get the ball inside to for points,"said fifth-year Tornado girls basketball coach Dorothea Epps. "Before Amy, there was Kim Nowakowski, Kristen Dilliard. ... You have to go back a long way.

"We'll be playing four guards on the floor and going to more of a spread offense."

The Butler girls finished 17-7 last year and lost in the first round of the WPIALplayoffs to Latrobe.

The Tornado boys finished 12-12 overall, 4-8 in section play, and lost out on a playoff spot by a tiebreaker a year ago.

Butler has yet to reach a playoff berth under sixth-year coach Joe Lewandowski. But that streak may be ready to end.

"This is the most excited group I've had since I've been here,"Lewandowski said. "These kids have been waiting to get this season going since April.

"We want to start out this year the way we finished last year. We played down the importance of experience last preseason. This time, we're glad to have plenty of it."

Butler won four of its final six section games in 2006-07 and just missed a postseason berth despite dropping its first six section games.

Eight Tornado players on this year's roster, Fleeger, Christos Klutinoty, Clark Liebler, Ryan Melder, Pratkanis, Nick Rossmiller, Jeff Slater and Austin Snodgrass, started at least one varsity game a year ago.

Nick Powers, a senior forward, will join that group in the rotation early this season.

"There are some younger players on this team who will see action as well,"Lewandowski said.

Both Butler varsity teams are battling knee injuries to point guards. Liebler tore his ACLduring the offseason and will likely be sidelined until January.

Butler Girls

Lyndsy Day is back after missing nearly all of last year with a knee injury but isn't 100 percent just yet.

Another senior guard, Mackenzie Greenert, will likely miss the season because of a knee injury.

The Tornado girls will start three senior guards, Day, Erica Miller and Karissa King, along with sophomore guard Olivia Bresnahan and senior forward Kayla Gilliland.

Top players off the bench are Jenna Manuel, Katherine Sylvia and Rachel Doutt.

"We lost 90 percent of our scoring from last year,"Epps said. "We have to make up for that in bits and pieces. No one is going to score 20 points in a game for us this year.

"Defense has been the key to success for this program for years. We're relying on it now more than ever. We want to play in low-scoring games."

Day and Miller both said the spread offense will allow the guards to penetrate to the basket more.

"We're going to have to pick up our share of the scoring more as a group,"Day said.

The Butler boys don't return a lot of scoring punch, either, though Fleeger and Pratkanis both averaged just under 10 points per game and Klutinoty is a threat from 3-point territory.

"We have a cohesive group and that can only help us,"Lewandowski said.

Fleeger agreed.

"A bunch of us have been playing together since sixth grade,"Fleeger said. "As seniors, we know we don't get another shot after this."

Rossmiller is one of the more talented players on the boys team and he rarely saw the floor last season because of injuries.

"Nick is a fantastic passer,"Pratkanis said. "Having him out there will elevate everybody's game."

Jerry Markle returns as Butler's boys junior varsity coach and Jon McKay joins the varsity staff after coaching the freshmen last year.

Aaron Epps returns as Butler girls junior varsity coach with Julie Baccanti rounding out the staff.

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