BUTLER TWP — Butler ended the night with a 26-11 advantage over Seneca Valley.

Not on the scoreboard, but in turnovers. And they affected the final score as much as any other statistic.

The Raiders pulled to within 23-21 when Kelsey Spencer hit a bucket with 14 seconds gone in the third quarter.

From that point on, Seneca Valley scored 13 points and committed 14 turnovers in a 50-34 loss to the Golden Tornado Monday night.

"We just become frantic with the basketball," said Raiders coach Kelly Mathews. "It doesn't happen all the time. We never know when it's going to happen."

It certainly happened much too often for Mathews, who watched her team drop its fifth consecutive game.

Many of the turnovers came when SV players attempted to drive the lane and Butler players were able to get a hand on the ball.

"We've been working on steals and getting points in transition," said Butler coach Dorothea Epps. "I thought we played tremendous defense tonight with our half-court and full-court man-to-man. When everything's going well, we can get a lot of easy baskets."

On the other end of the floor, Epps was pleased with her team's ability to take care of the basketball.

"To have just 11 turnovers, that's great, especially with the style of play we have," she said. "At this point in the season, you're trying to get into the postseason and you want to be playing your best basketball."

Spencer led the Raiders (11-10, 2-8) with 12 points.

Rachel Barry and Amy Achesinski each had 14 points to pace Butler (16-4, 6-3).

Barry scored 11 of her points in the first half, including nine in the second period.

Even with Barry's hot hand, the Golden Tornado let a 21-9 second-quarter lead turn into a 23-19 edge by halftime.

That's when Achesinski took over, scoring 12 points in the final 16 minutes of play, including eight in the third quarter, after which Butler led 37-27.

"At halftime, we're down by four and Achesinski has just two points," said Mathews. "We needed to lock down on Barry, keep defending Achesinski well and handle their pressure.

"But our passing was a big problem tonight," she added. "We can't make passes that lead to shots; we just make passes to get rid of the ball."

SENECA VALLEY 34Aly Eagle 2 4-5 8, Megan Gebrosky 1 0-0 3, Kelsey Spencer 5 1-2 12, Kelsey Patsilevas 3 0-0 6, Amanda Johnson 1 1-2 3, Jackie Mangola 0 2-2 2, Catherine Messmer 0 0-0 0.

Totals: 12 8-11 34.

BUTLER 50Rachel Barry 6 2-3 14, Olivia Bresnahan 3 0-0 6, Liz Schultz 1 0-0 2, Amy Achesinski 7 0-0 14, Maria Baroffio 4 2-2 10, Kayla Gilliland 2 0-0 4, Erica Miller 0 0-0 0, Jenna Manuel 0 0-0 0, Karissa King 0 0-0 0.

Totals: 23 4-5 50.

Seneca Valley 5 14 8 7—34Butler 10 13 14 13—503-point goals: Seneca Valley 2 (Gebrosky, Spencer)

JV: Butler 45-20 (B-Kayla Gilliland 14 points; SV-Nicole Roche 8)

Thursday: Butler at Pine-Richland; North Hills at Seneca Valley