BUTLER TWP — Pine-Richland was playing for its WPIAL playoff hopes. Butler was playing for momentum.

Butler won.

The Golden Tornado (10-9, 6-7) never led until 2:17 remained in regulation, then outscored the Rams 12-5 in overtime to come away with a 65-58 Section 1-6A girls basketball victory Wednesday night in the Butler gym.

“Very satisfying win ... We had to survive there for a while,” Butler coach Mark Maier said. “But we needed this.”

The victory snapped a three-game losing streak for the Tornado, which fell behind 7-0 in the first four minutes and sank only five of 29 field goal attempts in the first half.

“Most of those shots weren’t bad ones,” Maier said. “They just weren’t going in.”

Never behind by more than eight points, Butler took its first lead with 2:17 left in regulation when a Justine Forbes free throw gave the Tornado a 51-50 edge. Sophie Catalanio countered with a trey for the Rams (5-15, 3-10) moments later.

Pine-Richland canned 11 3-pointers in the contest.

“Outside shooting is definitely a strength of ours,” Rams coach Kyle DeGregorio said.

But Pine-Richland missed the front end of two one-and-one’s in the final 1:43. Makenna Maier knotted the game at 53 with a layup with 24 seconds left. The Rams tried holding for the last shot, but the ball was stolen away by Butler just before time expired.

Pine-Richland had 20 turnovers to Butler’s seven on the night. Six of the Tornado turnovers occurred in the first half.

Butler never trailed in overtime as a Maisy Gibson layup was followed by Makenna Maier’s steal and layup seconds into the extra session. Aubree Tack sank a free throw to give the Tornado a 61-58 lead with 45.7 seconds left in OT. She missed her second free throw.

Justine Forbes snared the rebound and laid it in for a five-point lead. Pine-Richland did not threaten again.

“We work on that ‘X’ move in practice,” Forbes said. “Two of us cross past each other on the rebound. I got the ball in good position, so I went right back up with it.”

“Heads up play, definitely the play of the game,” Coach Maier said. “That play jumped the lead to five and I felt like we were in control after that.

“When you’re only making five of 29 shots in the first half, you have to find other ways to stay in the game. We did that. We never let it get away.”

Forbes led Butler with 20 points, six rebounds and three assists. Gibson tallied 15 points and four boards, Maier eight points, five rebounds and three assists. Tack had seven points, seven steals, four rebounds and three assists.

“It’s getting late in the season,” Forbes said. “The year flies by so fast. I wanted to be sure to give my all in this game ... every game.”

Sarah Pifer scorerd 20 points, grabbed five rebounds and dished out four assists for the Rams. She connected on five treys and fouled out in overtime. Madison Zavasky had 12 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and three steals before fouling out with 2:37 left in regulation. Katie Pifer scored 11 points — hitting three treys — while Sophie Catalano had 10 points and eight rebounds.

Butler sank 18 of 31 free throws, Pine-Richland five of 12.

“We were fouling,” DeGregorio said. “The officials didn’t have a bad game. If we pay attention to fundamentals we go over in practice and get in the proper position, we wouldn’t be committing all those fouls.”

The Rams were eliminated from playoff contention with the loss.

PINE-RICHLAND 58

Sarah Pifer 7-14 1-3 20, Gianna Reighard 1-6 0-0 3, Christina Yarborough 1-3 0-0 2, Tiffany Gathers 0-1 0-0 0, Sophie Catalano 4-7 0-0 10, Madison Zavasky 5-13 2-5 12, Katie Pifer 3-3 2-3 11, Catrina Knox 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 21-47 5-12 58.

BUTLER 65

Justine Forbes 7-16 5-6 20, Hannah Aldridge 1-3 1-2 4, Macklin Hanley 2-9 1-3 6, Maisy Gibson 5-9 5-5 15, Megan Penrod 1-5 3-4 5, Makenna Maier 3-8 2-2 8, Aubree Tack 3-5 1-8 7, Jessica Chwalik 0-1 0-0 0, Ava Selfridge 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 22-57 18-31 65.

Pine-Richland 12 11 16 14 5 — 58

Butler 7 10 17 19 12 — 65

3-point goals: Pine-Richland 11 (S.Pifer 5, Catalano 2, K.Pifer 3, Reighard), Butler 3 (Forbes, Hanley, Aldridge)

JV: Butler, 57-16 (B: Amanda McMichel 19)

Thursday: Seneca Valley at Butler