BUTLER TWP — Maisy Gibson earned a moment. Justine Forbes stole the show.

Gibson, a senior guard-forward who’s missed the entire season due to injury, took the floor to begin Butler’s girls basketball Senior Night and was fed the ball for a layup and the game’s first points before being removed from the contest.

“Maisy deserved that moment,” Butler coach Mark Maier said. “She was a starter for us last year and has been around for games and practices in support of the team this year.”

Forbes, a senior guard, struck for a career-high 27 points as the Golden Tornado snapped a four-game losing streak with a 54-35 win over Karns City Monday night in the Butler gym.

Forbes scored 23 of those points in the first half, sinking seven of nine shots — including six treys — as Butler (11-11) took a 33-13 lead into halftime. She drained five treys in the second quarter, including four during a 17-0 Tornado run that closed the first half.

“I’ve never done anything like that,” Forbes said. “I was getting open and the shots kept falling, so I kept letting them fly.”

Forbes had eight rebounds and two assists to go with her big shooting night.

“This is one she’ll never forget,” Maier said. “This is the last game our seniors will ever play on this floor. I feel great for her.”

Butler started five seniors: Gibson, Forbes, Tori Stevenson, Hope Look and Kelli Kovalick. The sixth senior, Hannah Aldridge, is the Tornado’s starting point guard. She entered the game when Gibson left.

Aldridge scored 13 points, including a pair of treys in the fourth quarter.

“Hannah put her head down, drove to the hoop, took the contact ... She had not been doing that,” Maier said. “She took her shot from outside without hesitation, too. That was good to see. We’re gonna need that.”

Karns City (13-8) did not need to see Forbes have the huge offensive night.

“We did a good job on their other big scorer (Amelia McMichael), but we left Justine alone too much, gave her too many gaps,” KC coach Steve Andreassi said. “That girl can shoot and she kept hitting them.”

Forbes admitted she was “hoping to hit 30, but I was born on July 27, so 27 points means a lot to me.”

The Gremlins trailed 40-15 with 3:25 left in the third quarter before putting together a 16-3 run to pull within 430-31 with 5:16 still left on the clock.

“I was proud of our girls for that,” Andreassi said. “We started playing basketball the way we usually play. We seemed to come out with some nervousness to start this game, but we were more vocal in the second half and got some things done.

“We put Butler on the schedule because we wanted to play strong competition. Sometimes it’s good to get your butt whipped because you can learn from it. We’ll grow from this game.”

Forbes’ final points of the night — a pair of layups — ended the Gremlins’ 16-3 spurt. McMichael had seven rebounds for Butler while Kovalick grabbed six boards. Sydney Patterson had three assists and three steals.

Emma Dailey led the Gremlins with 13 points and seven boards. Chloe Fritch contributed 11 points and three assists.

Karns City concludes the regular season by hosting Moniteau on Wednesday night. Butler begins the WPIAL 6A playoffs next Monday night with a game at Peters Township.

“We played them last year. It’s a nice gym and we played well there,” Maier said. “They lost a Division 1 caliber player, now at Arizona State. We were hoping to get a home playoff game, but we’ll see if we can get it done on the road.”

KARNS CITY 35

Emma Dailey 5-12 3-3 13, Chloe Fritch 4-9 2-2 11, Hanna Dailey 1-2 0-0 3, Savanna Prescott 1-3 0-4 2, Jordan Macurak 1-1 0-0 2, Brooklynn Taylor 0-6 0-0 0, Naomi Venesky 2-6 0-0 4. Totals: 14-39 5-9 35.

BUTLER 54

Hope Look 0-3 0-0 0, Sydney Patterson 0-3 0-0 0, Justihe Forbes 9-14 3-4 27, Hannah Aldridge 5-9 1-1 13, Tori Stevenson 1-4 2-4 4, Madi McGarrah 0-6 0-0 0, Avery Maier 1-1 0-0 2, Amelia McMichael 0-8 0-0 0, Kelli Kovalick 3-3 0-0 6, Maisy Gibson 10-1 0-0 2, Evelyn Paserba 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 20-53 6-9 54.

Karns City 8 5 10 12 — 35

Butler 11 22 7 14 — 54

3-point goals: Karns City 2 (H.Dailey, Fritch), Butler 8 (Forbes 6, Aldridge 2)

JV: Butler, 35-27 (KC: Hanna Dailey 14, B: Avery Maietr 11)

Wednesday: Moniteau at Karns City

Monday: WPIAL playoffs-Butler at Peters Township