Butler girls' win streak snapped by 52-30 loss to Oakland Catholic
BUTLER TWP — Mark Maier summed up his Butler girls basketball team's final game of 2021 rather succinctly.
“Oakland Catholic is a good team,” he said, “but I like to think we're good, too. We just didn't show it tonight.”
The Golden Tornado struggled on the offensive end the whole night and the Eagles turned many of Butler's 20 turnovers into easy points in a 52-30 victory for Oakland Catholic Wednesday at the Butler Christmas Tournament, snapping the Tornado's six-game win streak.
Butler, which is capable of taking command of a game with its outside shooting, made just 21 percent (four of 21) of its attempts from beyond the arc.
“We were switching a lot of screens and honed in on No. 30 (Makenna Maier),” said Eagles' coach Brianne O'Rourke Kelly. “We know she's a very good shooter from the outside.”
The Eagles (6-1) brought an 8-point lead into the second quarter, but hit a lull with turnovers of their own and cold shooting. Butler, however, could not take advantage.
“It was 15-7 forever,” Mark Maier said. “I thought we had some good opportunities, good shots, but we didn't make them.”
Oakland's Jillian Gallo finally broke the scoreless streak with a basket with 3:23 left in the first half and the Eagles pushed their lead to 21-7 with just over a minute left.
A pair of treys from Justine Forbes and Makenna Maier gave Butler (6-2) some much-needed momentum entering halftime.
“We come into the locker room, had cut (the deficit) to eight points, but things caved in on us in the third,” Mark Maier said.
Maisy Gibson's basket with 6:20 left in the third proved to be Butler's only field goal of the quarter as the Eagles outscored the Tornado 17-3 to drop a 22-point deficit on Butler with just eight minutes to play.
“We were slow tonight,” Mark Maier said. “If you're going to lose, go down with your best shot. We didn't have that tonight.”
Halena Hill and Alexa Washington, both junior guards, led the Eagles in scoring with 15 and 12 points, respectively.
Forbes paced Butler with nine points while Aubree Tack had four rebounds and three steals.
Butler will open the new year with six straight Section 1-6A games, beginning with Monday's tilt against visiting Penn-Trafford.
“I don't think the top of the section is as good as it was last year, but the bottom is better,” Mark Maier said. “There's a lot of parity ... every game is winnable and every game is losable.”
Butler's junior varsity team moved its record to 8-0 with a 46-36 win over the Eagles.
Amelia McMichael led the Tornado with 19 points.
OAKLAND CATHOLIC 52
Jordyn Ingelido 1 0-0 2, Rachel Haver 1 0-0 2, Maura Schorr 3 0-0 6, Alexa Washington 5 1-2 12, Halena Hill 6 1-2 15, Jillian Gallo 3 0-0 6, Kimaya Williams 1 1-1 3, Rachel Sweeny 1 0-0 2, Leilani Turner 1 0-0 2, Tasya Troxler-Scott 1 0-0 2. Totals: 23 3-5 52.
BUTLER 30
Justine Forbes 4 0-0 9, Maisy Gibson 2 1-2 5, Makenna Maier 1 4-4 7, Aubree Tack 0 1-2 1, Jessica Chwalik 1 0-0 3, Ava Selfridge 1 0-0 2, Hannah Aldridge 1 0-0 3, Sydney Patterson 0 0-0 0, Macklin Hanley 0 0-0 0, Madison McGarrah 0 0-0 0. Totals: 10 6-8 30.
Oakland Catholic 15 6 17 14 — 52
Butler 7 6 3 14 — 30
3-point goals: Oakland Catholic 3 (Hill 2, Washington); Butler 4 (Forbes, Maier, Chwalik, Aldridge). Monday: Penn-Trafford at Butler
