BUTLER TWP — With less than a minute remaining in the game, Butler center Amy Achesinski gathered the basketball in the paint, turned toward the hoop and took a jump shot.

The ball rolled around the rim and fell out.

It was fitting moment, as the Golden Tornado spent the whole night coming close, but not close enough.

When the final horn echoed through the Butler gym, the Golden Tornado walked off the court with a 48-39 loss to Pine-Richland.

"This was tough," said Butler girls coach Dorothea Epps. "It's a learning experience for these girls. I'm sure we'll bounce back. We have to get better recognizing what's going on on the floor."

What was going on early was just what Butler (11-2 overall, 3-1 in the section) had wanted.

The Tornado surged to a 12-6 lead after the first quarter and looked to be in control.

But in a span of a minute and a half at the start of the second quarter, Pine-Richland (6-7, 2-2) went on a 7-0 run to take the lead.

"We came out fine, then we kind of went into this panic mode when they came back on us," Epps said.

It was a perfect storm of problems that killed Butler. Poor shooting from the floor and from the line, poor rebounding. turnovers and Pine-Richland's penchant for hitting the big shot combined to sink the hosts.

The Tornado shot 12-of-51 from the field and were 13-of-21 from the foul line, but five of those misses at the line came in the fourth quarter.

Butler led 22-20 at halftime but didn't hold that lead for very long.

Pine-Richland pushed ahead at 25-24 with 5:35 remaining in the third quarter and never trailed again.

Until the very end of the game. when the Rams padded their lead at the line, Pine-Richland didn't lead by more than five points.

Butler got within one point four times, but it never could regain the lead.

"They kept believing in themselves tonight," said Pine-Richland coach Sherri McConnell.

Butler's focus was on the Rams' 6-foot-6 center Sydney Wilson.

The Tornado put Elizabeth Schultz on her on the defensive end and tried to push the ball to beat the lanky sophomore down the court on offense with some good results.

Wilson finished with only seven points, but she also had seven blocked shots. Her mere presence inside altered several other shots.

Achesinski had 18 points for Butler and seven rebounds.

But the Golden Tornado lost only their second game this season on the perimeter, as Butler's guards were a combined 6-of-33 shooting and hit only one 3-pointer.

Meanwhile, Pine-Richland's guards helped salt the game away.

Guard Emma Richert scored 14 points and was 6-of-7 from the line in the fourth quarter. Guard Tricia Adamczyk added 11 and guard Katie Wise eight for the Rams.

"For two sophomores to be able to handle our team and handle the pressure is a great credit to them," McConnell said of Richert and Wise. "They are two tough kids. I wouldn't want the ball in anyone else's hands."

The Butler loss was made tougher because it happened at home.

"We wanted to hold serve," Epps said.

PINE-RICHLAND 48Katie Wise 2-5 4-4 8, Chelsea Young 0-2 0-0 0, Tori Pikur 1-1 1-1 3, Sydney Wilson 3-8 1-2 7, Emma Richert 4-7 6-7 14, Carolyn Steger 0-1 0-0 1, Tricia Adamczyk 4-10 2-2 11, Emily Karr 1-3 0-0 3, Christin Bridge 0-0 0-0 0.

Totals: 15-37 14-16 48

BUTLER 39Rachel Barry 2-10 3-4 7, Olivia Bresnahan 1-7 0-2 2, Elizabeth Schultz 1-4 0-0 2, Amy Achesinski 5-13 8-10 18, Maria Baroffio 2-7 2-5 7, Karissa King 1-9 0-0 3, Becky Smith 0-0 0-0 0, Erica Miller 0-1 0-0 0, Jenna Manuel 0-0 0-0 0.

Totals: 12-51 13-21 39

Pine-Richland 6 14 15 13—48Butler 12 10 9 8—393-point goals: Richert 2, Adamczyk, Baroffio

JV: Butler 36-25

Monday: Butler at NorthAllegheny