MANOR TWP, Armstrong County — The Butler girls basketball team knows what it has in Jordan Kauffman. What kind of season this turns out to be for the Golden Tornado will largely depend on how much the players around her can contribute.

With that in mind, Butler coach Mark Maier was encouraged by what he saw Friday night.

The Tornado received field goals from five different players in the fourth quarter, which helped Butler turn a tie game into a 45-32 victory over Knoch in the opening round of the Armstrong Tip-Off Tournament.

“That's very encouraging,” he said. “We didn't shoot the ball all that well tonight (16-of-45), but we fought through it.”

Knoch junior guard Nevaeh Ewing led all scorers with 17 points. Her 3-pointer tied the score at 28 with 6:43 left in the game. That's when Butler's offense heated up and its defense clamped down, leading to a 17-4 run to end the game.

“(Kauffman) hit a couple bombs from 3-point range, we missed some shots and were playing from behind,” said Knoch coach Chris Andreassi. “But I thought we played well in stretches tonight.”

“(Ewing) hurt us, but I thought Sarayne Forbes did a good job late of locking her down on defense,” said Maier.

The second period looked to be a wasted eight minutes for both teams as neither scored in the first six minutes of the quarter. Ewing then hit a trey, sparking a 9-0 run that put the Knights up 14-12 at halftime.

“She missed a lot of last year with an injury,” said Andreassi of Ewing. “Hopefully, tonight was the start of getting her going. We need her to score, but we have to spread it around, too.”

Butler's scoreless second period included an 0-of-16 effort from the field.

“I don't know if it was turnovers or missed shots, but it's tough to win when you score in just three quarters,” said Maier. “But you have to credit Knoch. Their defense had something to do with it.”

Kauffman, a Slippery Rock University commit who led Butler with 16 points, teamed with senior guard Hailey Metzger to score all but one of Butler's 14 points in the third as the Tornado offense got back on track.

Kauffman's trey at the buzzer put the Tornado up 26-25.

“We were in a slump and I'm not sure why,” said Metzger, who tallied all 11 of her points in the second half. “We came out strong in the second half.”

While the Knights had a win in their sights until very late in the game, they were unable to overcome 23 turnovers. Ten of those came in the first quarter.

“Our press was effective,” said Maier. “We were able to turn them over a lot.”

Another factor contributing to the loss was a 0-for-7 effort from the free throw line.

“That's not going to happen this year,” Andreassi said of the poor shooting from the charity stripe. “We have a lot of good free-throw shooters.”

Knoch will face West Shamokin in the consolation game at 2 p.m. Saturday. Butler meets Armstrong in the championship at 3:30 p.m.

KNOCH 32

Madilyn Boyer 3 0-1 7, Lauren Cihonski 1 0-4 2, Nevaeh Ewing 7 0-0 17, Megan Vasas 3 0-0 6, Nina Shaw 0 0-2 0 0, Abbey Shearer 0 0-0 0, Samantha Archer 0 0-0 0. Totals: 14 0-7 32.

BUTLER 45

Sarayne Forbes 2 0-0 5, Macklin Hanley 0 1-2 1, Jordan Kauffman 6 0-1 16, Ali Altman 3 3-4 9, Hailey Metzger 4 2-4 11, Makenna Maier 1 1-2 3, Aubree Tack 0 0-2 0, Emma Monteleone 0 0-0 0, Emma Simmers 0 0-0 0, Anna Michalek 0 0-0 0. Totals: 16 7-15 45.

Knoch 5 9 11 7 — 32

Butler12 0 14 19 — 45

3-point goals: Knoch 4 (Ewing 3, Boyer); Butler 6 (Kauffman 4, Forbes, Metzger).

Saturday: Armstrong Tip-Off Tournament: Knoch vs. West Shamokin (Consolation) at 2 p.m.; Butler vs. Armstrong (Championship) at 3:30 p.m.