ROSS TWP — Dorothea Epps was seething.

Not because her Butler girls basketball team had just lost its fifth straight game. Not because it squandered a hot start where it led North Hills on the road, 11-2, after just three minutes. Not because it committed 29 turnovers.

And not because the Golden Tornado lost a section game to the Indians, 64-60, Thursday night.

“That's the worst refereed game I've seen in a long time,” Epps said.

“I'm just sad for these girls that it was taken out of their hands, pretty much,” Epps added. “... We can't just blame it on the referees, but, whenever it's a difference in the game, I'm sorry. I've never said that before, but I just felt like this game was taken from these girls.”

It was strong words from a coach who saw her team go a mere 5-of-9 from the foul line while North Hills was 21-of-25.

The foul shooting by the Indians, who made 17 straight at one point, kept Butler from getting any closer than four points from the lead in the second half.

“It's all just confidence,” said North Hills coach Lauren Wilmus. “We've been having good first halves, and I told the kids, we have to make it from the line and they did. There's nothing more to it.”

Mel Lindsey had a big impact on the outcome as well, scoring 32 points on 11-of-18 shooting from the field. She was also 9-of-9 from the free throw line.

“She's been playing well all season,” Wilmus said. “It's nice to see she can finally close the game out and come out on top. She deserves it. She works her butt off in practice every day and she works her butt off in every game.”

Lindsey's scoring punch was able to counteract Butler forward Julia Baxter, who also had a strong game.

Baxter, a senior, scored 27 points — 11 in the fourth quarter as Butler launched rally after rally — and also added 10 rebounds and six blocked shots.

But Baxter was whistled for two charging calls late that had Epps up in arms.

“I thought there was two bad charges on her,” Epps said. “The girls were flopping and they were calling a charge. It was pretty bad.”

Things were pretty good early for Butler, which hit its first five shots from the floor and led 11-2 with just three minutes gone in the game.

But North Hills (5-8, 1-6) settled down and went on a 9-2 run to get back in it and led 33-26 at the half.

The Indians enjoyed their biggest lead at 43-31 midway through the third quarter when Butler began one of several charges that fell short.

The Golden Tornado (5-10, 2-4) were able to trim the lead down to four points on four different occasions in the final 12 minutes, but could get no closer.

Despite the loss and the manner in which Epps thought it came, she said she was happy with the effort of her team.

“I thought we played hard tonight. They really went after it,” Epps said. “We made some mistakes, but any time you play up-tempo, that's going to happen.”

Alyssa DiPippa added 14 points for the Golden Tornado and looked back to her explosive self after missing several games earlier this month with a foot injury.

The loss puts a dent in Butler's playoff hopes, but Epps said she saw a lot of good things to build on going forward.

“I told them as long as we're out there going hard at it and trying to get a W and playing together, I'll take that,” Epps said.

“We just have to regroup,” Epps added. “We have Shaler coming up. We can't worry about this one. We can't change anything. We just have to keep improving.”

BUTLER 60

Alyssa DiPippa 6-11 2-2 14, Ronni Guiney 0-0 0-0 0, Dani Hensel 2-4 0-0 5, Kalynn Callihan 3-9 0-0 8, Julia Baxter 13-20 1-1 27, Mia Rader 1-4 1-1 3, Jenna Kunst 1-3 1-5 3, Melea Barlow 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 26-51 5-9 60.

NORTH HILLS 64

Megan Taschner 1-3 0-0 2, Jess Bowen 2-10 1-2 7, Jamie Halloran 3-12 7-8 14, Mel Lindsey 11-18 9-9 32, Anna Treser 2-3 2-4 7, Kristen Collins 0-4 2-2 2. Totals: 19-50 21-25 64.

Butler 18 8 16 18 — 60

North Hills17 16 15 16 — 64

3-point goals: Butler 3 (Hensel, Callihan 2); North Hills 5 (Bowen 2, Halloran, Lindsey, Treser)

JV: Butler 38-24

Monday: Shaler at Butler