Big Battle
JACKSON TWP — Twenty four days after his team dominated Seneca Valley, Butler girls basketball coach Mark Maier fully expected a much different game.
He was right, but more importantly for the Golden Tornado, the result was the same.
Butler won that earlier meeting by 30 points, but found itself in a single-digit game for most of Thursday's rematch.
The Raiders pulled to within 44-39 when Sydney Ring hit a 3-pointer with 1:03 left.
Five free throws from Makenna Maier and three SV turnovers in the final minute sealed a 49-41 road win for Butler.
“Easily, I expected a much closer game than the first time we played them,” said Maier. “That's a good team. A few weeks ago, everything went our way. Tonight, it took every ounce from us to win. Seneca Valley's trap bothered us, but we never gave up the lead and we learned a lot from this.”
It was the fifth straight loss and 11th defeat in 12 games for the Raiders (2-11, 1-10), but SV coach Dorothea Epps lauded her team's defensive effort compared to the first game against Butler.
“They listened and stuck to the game plan,” she said of her players. “We're out-manned against a lot of teams, but if you stick to the game plan, you can pull some of those games out, or at least stay in it.”
Sarayne Forbes paced Butler (7-6, 7-4) with 14 points, but a number of players came up with clutch efforts. Sarayne's younger sister, Justine, was one of them.The latter drove the lane for two points and a 39-33 lead with 5:33 remaining. Three minutes later, she rebounded Sarayne's missed free throw, drew a foul herself and hit both attempts from the line for a 43-34 edge with 2:09 left.And as Maier pointed out: “She was really good on defense, too.”Justine Forbes, who scored nine points Thursday, has yet to start in a varsity game, but her play off the bench continues to improve.“I felt a lot more confident attacking the rim tonight,” she said. “The adrenaline was running through me and it feels so good to help the team.”SV was led by Olivia West, who scored a game-high 17 points. She tallied all 12 of her team's points in the third quarter, which ended with Butler leading 35-28.The Raiders have struggled to score this season, due largely to the absence of point guard Jess Bickart, who is out with a wrist injury. West, a 5-foot-11 junior, is often the one called on to bring the team up the floor.“Olivia has a lot on her plate right now,” Epps said. “Ball-handling, rebounding ... she's also our leading scorer. We're hoping to get Jess back before the end of the season.”Alison Altman grabbed eight rebounds for Butler and Aubree Tack scored nine points and had seven steals.Butler was coming off a 54-29 loss to Norwin on Monday.“I like how we responded tonight,” said Maier. “I like where we are.”<b>BUTLER 49</b>Sarah Fiorina 0 1-2 1, Sarayne Forbes 6 0-1 14, Justine Forbes 2 4-4 9, Alison Altman 2 0-2 4, Makenna Maier 1 5-6 7, Maisy Gibson 2 0-2 5, Aubree Tack 3 2-5 9, Sam Miller 0 0-0 0. Totals: 16 12-22 49.<b>SENECA VALLEY 41</b>Jaden Davinsizer 1 0-0 3, Allison Sevin 4 0-0 8, Olivia West 5 4-6 17, Chloe Leonard 2 1-2 5, Sydney Ring 3 1-2 8, Kirsten Vislosky 0 0-0 0, Anna Felitsky 0 0-0 0. Totals: 15 6-10 41.Butler 10 11 14 14 — 49Seneca Valley5 11 12 13 — 413-point goals: Butler 5 (S. Forbes 2, J. Forbes, Gibson, Tack); Seneca Valley 5 (West 3, Ring, Davinsizer).Monday: Butler at Hampton; Seneca Valley at Penn-Trafford
