Butler basketball: Malina McElroy leads balanced offense as Golden Tornado earn season-opening win
MANOR TWP, Armstrong County — Not bad for openers.
Junior point guard Malina McElroy scored 14 points, tallied six steals and three assists Friday afternoon as Butler used a balanced attack to register a runaway 57-26 girls basketball season-opening win over West Shamokin.
The game was part of the Armstrong Tip-Off Tournament. The Golden Tornado play the winner of the Burrell-Armstrong game at 3 p.m. Saturday.
“Balance was the key today,” Butler coach Mark Maier said. “We had five girls score between eight and 14 points. We got nine 3-pointers (total) and four players shot them. Those are positive things.”
The Tornado had a 15-9 lead after one quarter, but pulled away from there. The lead was 16 points at halftime and the mercy clock kicked in when McElroy sank a trey for a 49-19 lead with two minutes left in the third quarter.
Butler’s biggest lead reached 55-23 on a Jordan Ryan trey with 48 seconds remaining.
Guard play played a major role in Friday’s victory. Besides McElroy’s production, Eva Stutz had 11 points and four assists, senior Emily Cornish nine points on three treys.
Stutz and McElroy spelled each other at point guard while the Tornado front-liners were still in the game. Maier went deep into his bench even before the mercy clock began. Butler’s regular lineup turned the ball over only four times all day.
“Eva and I can definitely mix and match like that,” McElroy said. “We know each other’s game so well. We’ve been playing together since third grade. We lost four starters, but we play well together and everyone has each other’s backs.
“If we continue to play together, I think we’ll do well this year.”
While McElroy and Stutz primarily handle the point, Cornish could handle that role as well.
“Emily’s done it before,” Maier said. “She could do it if called upon. We’re very deep there. Most high school girls teams don’t have a lot of ball handlers, but that’s a strength of ours.”
West Shamokin had only one senior in its lineup Friday. The Wolves have five freshmen and three sophomores on their roster.
“I like the fact that we’re young,” Wolves coach Eric Spencer said. “Butler is a 6A school that plays a 6A schedule. The speed of the game is different at that level. This was an eye-opener for us, being a 3A school.
“Our girls aren’t accustomed to playing this fast, but we were competitive for close to two quarters. We couldn’t keep up in the third.”
Ashton Huff had eight points and seven rebounds for Butler. Emily Hoffer grabbed seven boards as the Tornado had a 29-22 edge on the glass.
“We’re not a big team size-wise, but our coaches tell us that if we hustle after the ball, we’ll come up with it 75% of the time,” McElroy said.
Evie Grantz led West Shamokin with eight points. Aubrey Reefer had six rebounds.
BUTLER 57
Malina McElroy 6-8 1-2 14, Eva Stutz 4-7 0-0 11, Ashton Huff 3-10 2-4 8, Emily Hoffer 2-4 0-0 4, Emily Cornish 3-7 0-0 9, Campbell Clouse 0-1 0-0 0, Payton Kamerer 1-3 1-1 3, Jordan Ryan 3-5 0-0 8, Katie Dick 0-1 0-0 0, Sofia Matonak 0-3 0-0 0, Julles Lockwood 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 22-49 4-7 57.
WEST SHAMOKIN 32
Aubrey Reefer 2-11 2-2 6, Evie Grantz 2-11 3-5 8, Mia Scrips 1-3 0-0 3, Layla Orr 1-2 1-2 3, Madi Keirn 3-7 0-0 6, Kolby Elkin 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 9-34 6-9 26.
Butler 15 18 16 8 - 57
West Shamokin 9 8 4 5 - 26
3-point goals: West Shamokin 2 (Grantz, Scrips), Butler 9 (McElroy, Stutz 3, Cornish 3, Ryan 2).
Saturday: Butler vs. Burrell-Armstrong winner, Armstrong Tip-Off Tournament, 3 p.m.
