BUTLER TWP — Winning the Butler Christmas Tournament has become a Christmas tradition for the Golden Tornado boys.

The 12th annual event takes place Wednesday and Thursday in the high school gym. This is Joe Lewandowski's fifth year as Tornado coach and his team has won this tournament each year it has participated.

"We take a lot of pride in it," Lewandowski said. "The boosters do a great job bringing quality teams in and the kids have a lot of fun with it.

"Our team is always better after the Christmas break because we get some good practice time in, plus play these two games at home where we can tweak some things we haven't been doing well."

Butler's boys defeated Penn Hills 58-57 in the tourney title game last year. They surprised Aliquippa 64-49 in the 2004 finale and defeated Franklin Regional 67-62 in 2002.

The 2003 Butler Christmas Tournament featured girls teams only.

Penn Hills is 6-2 this season and carries a three-game winning streak into its first-round tournament game against Summit Academy (6-3) Wednesday.

The Knights have won four straight games and have three players averaging in double figures — Marc Walker at 16.2 points per game, Leonard Brown and Mauricve McDaniels each with 15 points per contest.

Butler (4-5) has dropped its last two games and faces Class AABurrell (5-5) in the first round.

"Burrell plays disciplined basketball, Penn Hills has been playing well and Summit Academy is very athletic,"Lewandowski said. "This is a very solid field."

At 15 points per game, Sean Lowry is the lone Tornado player averaging in double figures.

On the girls side, Butler broke through and edged Franklin Regional 48-47 to win last year's tournament. The Tornado failed to win this event the two previous years.

Since a girls portion was added to the Butler Christmas Tournament in 2000, the host team has won the event only twice.

"This is never an easy tournament to win,"Butler girls coach Dorothea Epps said. "The field is always very good and if we're not playing good ball, we're not going to win.

"But this year, we have an opportunity to defend that title and the girls are excited about it."

Butler (8-1) is the hottest team coming in, having won six straight games. Amy Achesinski is averaging 20.6 points per game and Maria Baroffio is netting 11 points per contest.

Achesinski was named Most Valuable Player of last year's tournament.

Butler faces Brashear (1-7) in the first round Wednesday. APittsburgh City League school, Brashear's lone win is a 39-13 decision over Oliver and the squad is averaging only 28 points per game.

Penn Hills (6-2), winner of four in a row, plays South Park (5-4) in the other girls game.

The boys and girls tournaments will feature a 3-point shooting contest. All-tournament teams and tourney MVPs will be announced after the respective championship games Thursday night.

"It's a fun atmosphere for the girls and it's a break from the normally intense routine,"Epps said. "We're playing to win, but we'll play a lot more loose, I think."

Penn Hills' David Filipino won the boys 3-point shooting contest last year and returns this season. South Park's Nicole Doria was runner up in the girls 3-point shooting contest a year ago and she also returns.

Butler's Julie Ehrman — last year's girls 3-point contest winner — is now starting at Pitt-Greensburg.

BUTLER CHRISTMAS TOURNAMENT SCHEDULEWednesday(varsity at high school gym)2:30 p.m. — Penn Hills vs. South Park (girls)4 p.m. — Penn Hills vs. Summit Academy (boys)5:30 p.m. — Butler vs. Brashear (girls)7 p.m. — Butler vs. Burrell (boys)

(jayvee at Intermediate gym)1 p.m. — Penn Hills vs. South Park (girls)2:30 p.m. — Penn Hills vs. Summit Academy (boys)4 p.m. — Butler vs. Brashear (girls)5:30 p.m. — Butler vs. Burrell (boys)

Thursday(varsity at high school gym)2:30 p.m. — Girls consolation game4:15 p.m. — Boys consolation game6 p.m. — Girls championship game7:45 p.m. — Boys championship game

(jayvee at Intermediate gym)2:30 p.m. — Boys consolation game4:15 p.m. — Girls consolation game6 p.m. — Boys championship game7:45 p.m. — Girls championship game