BUTLER TWP— To say the Butler girls basketball team is on a roll is like saying the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens play pretty good defense.

Duh.

The Golden Tornado (12-1, 6-0) cruised to their fifth straight victory Tuesday night, defeating Seneca Valley, 58-32.

Butler's average margin of victory during that streak is 27 points.

"They're definitely the team to beat in our section,"Raiders coach Kelly Mathews said. "Defense is their big thing and we struggled with their pressure all night."

Butler scored the first eight points of the game and never was threatened. The Tornado's biggest lead was 29 points on a number of occasions, the first being at 42-13 with 5:14 left in the third quarter. The Tornado scored 15 consecutive points between the second and third periods to establish that margin.

"We've always prided ourselves on defense,"Butler coach Dorothea Epps said. "The big difference for us this year is we have a number of girls who can produce offensively.

"We still get points in transition, but we're also getting points on a consistent basis running our sets."

Butler's average margin of victory for the season is 24 and it's outscoring the opposition 62.4-38.4.

Seneca Valley (1-11, 1-5) dropped its eighth straight game and is averaging only 39 points per contest.

The Raiders suffered 29 turnovers in Tuesday's game, 25 in the first three quarters. Aly Eagle, a senior, scored 18 points, including eight field goals.

The rest of the team combined for two field goals.

"Aly's our leading scorer and we want her taking most of the shots,"Mathews said. "We haven't been able to develop much other offense on the floor.

"We're definitely going through some growing pains. I've used different lineups the past four or five games and we're always starting three underclassmen."

Olivia Bresnahan paced Butler with 15 points, nine steals and seven assists. Casie Cygan added 14 points, including three 3-pointers, and Jenna Manuel contributed 12 points and nine rebounds.

Butler enjoyed a 31-20 edge in rebounding. That margin was 21-7 at halftime. Catherine Messmer had seven rebounds for Seneca Valley.

"Our plan was to apply fullcourt pressure and not let them get into their sets,"Epps said. "We figured that would cause them problems, and it did."

Butler enters the second half of section play Thursday night.

"We've been playing well, but I don't believe we've played our best game yet,"Epps said. "You don't want to do that until your last game."

SENECA VALLEY 32Julia Vandrak 0-1 0-0 0, Aly Eagle 8-15 1-2 18, Alyssa Miller 0-3 4-4 4, Brianna Sieminski 1-1 2-2 4, Kara Moyer 0-2 0-0 0, Alex Karika 0-0 1-2 1, Dani Fitzgerald 1-1 0-2 2, Catherine Messmer 0-4 3-6 3. Totals: 10-26 11-18 32

BUTLER 58Casey Fleeger 4-8 0-0 9, Katresa Savisky 1-2 0-0 2, Becky Nowacki 1-1 0-0 2, Olivia Bresnahan 6-12 3-6 15, Amanda Dymun 1-4 0-0 2, Ali Sedwick 0-0 0-0 0, Casie Cygan 5-11 1-2 14, Rachel Doutt 1-2 0-0 2, Jenna Manuel 5-13 1-2 12. Totals: 24-53 5-12 58

Seneca Valley 7 6 6 13—32Butler 22 12 12 12—583-point goals: Eagle; Fleeger, Cygan 3, Manuel

JV: Butler, 37-18 (B:Ali Sedwick 21, SV:Gabby Allen 11)

Thursday: Seneca Valley at Moon, North Hills at Butler