An athletic program can be measured by more than wins and losses.

That’s especially true of a high school athletic program.

“I like to win as much as anybody. But I want to make a positive difference in young people’s lives, too,” Butler High School girls basketball coach Dorothea Epps said recently.

If college ball is any indication, she has.

Within the past few years, numerous Golden Tornado basketball girls basketball players have gone on to play the sport in college.

They haven’t merely been on rosters.

They’ve been making an impact.

Amy Achesinski graduated from Mercyhurst two years ago as the Lakers’ third-leading all-time scorer with more than 1,700 points and collected more than 800 rebounds. Now she’s a full-time assistant coach with the program.

Maria Baroffio scored 1,254 points at St. Vincent College from 2007-11, leading the team, with 85 assists one year and with 47 3-point field goals in another.

Casey Fleeger and Emily Wise were part of a five-player women’s basketball team at Butler County Community College, both putting together outstanding years.

This season alone, there are seven Butler graduates active in women’s collegiate basketball. An eighth, Cait Baxter, attempted to make the Kent State roster as a walk-on and may not be finished playing ball yet.

Olivia Bresnahan will become eligible to play at Duquesne University later in December after playing two seasons at Florida State.

Casie Cygan and Mackenzie O’Donnell have been impact players at La Roche. Cygan has already passed the 1,000-point mark and is beginning to assault the record book there.

O’Donnell is averaging well into double figures as a freshman and has been a force inside.

Katresa Savisky is a starter and one of the captains on a Point Park University team that got off to a 9-0 start this season, best in the program’s history.

Sam Marak, Butler’s point guard last year, is starting as a freshman at Pitt-Titusville.

Shelby Johnston and Jen Barry are starting for Butler County Community College and lead the Pioneers in scoring and rebounding early in the season.

All in all, that’s not bad representation for one high school basketball program to have in the college ranks.

“It shows how hard they’ve worked at the game and, to me, it shows how much they love playing basketball,” Epps said. “They wouldn’t still be playing if they didn’t.”

Epps does more than try melding a successful team every season.

She tries developing players’ skills for possible advancement to the next level.

“I’m hard on them at times,” the coach admitted. “But it pays off in the end.”

These girls have discovered how hard work pays off.

Not a bad lesson to learn.