BUTLER TWP — Butler's girls lost their identity in their own gym Saturday night.

The Golden Tornado gave up points early and often in a 68-53 basketball loss to Hopewell in the championship game of the Butler Tip-Off Tournament.

"They were beating us to the loose balls, they were beating us down the floor. That's not who we are," Butler coach Dorothea Epps said. "We take pride in our man defense, but it didn't happen tonight.

"I knew we were in trouble in the first quarter. They were driving to the basket on us almost at will."

Butler surrendered more than 60 points in a game only once all of last season — a 65-57 loss to New Castle on the final day of the regular season.

"We give up 40-something points per game ... nothing like this," Epps said.

The Lady Vikings never trailed Saturday night. The game was tied at 2 after two minutes before Hopewell scored the next five points to assume the lead for good.

The final margin marked Hopewell's biggest lead of the night. The Vikings also led 43-28 with 3:47 left in the third quarter. Butler trailed 50-37 with 6:07 left in the game before an 11-4 run trimmed the deficit to 54-48 with 2:59 left.

Hopewell made its free throws from there to seal the win.

"We're always the bridesmaid, never the bride in tip-off tournaments," Hopewell coach Jeff Hornziak said. "With this one, I told the girls we may come out 2-0, 1-1, or 0-2, but we're going to benefit from playing two great teams.

"Winning the thing is a bonus for us. It's a nice start to the season."

Class AAA Hopewell won its section four consecutive years before New Castle claimed it last season. The Vikings have five seniors back from last year's 16-8 team. The one regular in the lineup who's not back — 5-foot-11 freshman forward Shatori Walker-Kimbrough — led the team with 26 points and eight rebounds.

She had 43 points and 17 rebounds in the tournament, posting MVP-like numbers

"We don't think that way. Everything we do is as a team, win or lose. But Shatori is a young talent who's not afraid or intimidated out there," Hornziak said. "She's very good now and she's going to get better."

Epps concurred.

"That girl is going to be a special player," she said. "She has a freshman body now, but she can play."

Elise Farris added 16 points for Hopewell and point guard Paige Alviani had 13 assists.

Casie Cygan led the Tornado with 19 points — including five treys — while Olivia Bresnahan had 17 points and 10 rebounds.

"Bresnahan's a grest player and she's going to get her points," Hornziak said. "Whether she got 20 or 25, we didn't want to let their other girls hurt us."

Butler sank only eight of 16 free throws, 19 of 36 for the tournament. The Tornado missed the front end of a few one-and-ones.

"Our foul shooting is hurting us," Epps said. "We shoot plenty of them every day. It's just a matter of stepping to the line with confidence and knocking them down. We're not doing that right now.

"We don't have any time to sulk over this. Mt. Lebanon comes in here Monday ranked ninth in the country. We have to regroup and get after it."

Mercyhurst Prep 50, Chartiers Valley 33 — The Lady Colts sank just two field goals in the second half in losing the consolation game.Autumn Anderson scored 15 points for Mercyhurst Prep while Lindsay Stamp contributed 10 points and seven rebounds for the Lakers.Paige Aleski paced Chartiers Valley with 12 points.

Consolation GameMERCYHURST PREP 50Alissa Robbins 1-3 0-0 2, Kayla Wilwohl 1-5 2-2 4, Amanda Berchtold 2-9 5-6 9, Kelly Hedderick 1-2 2-2 4, Brenna Robbins 2-4 0-0 4, Florie Fournier 0-0 0-2 0, Lindsay Stamp 4-11 2-3 10, Autumn Anderson 5-8 5-6 15, Ally Burke 0-0 0-0 0, Grace Holland 0-0 2-2 2. Totals: 16-42 18-23 50

CHARTIERS VALLEY 33Mariah Wells 0-0 1-2 1, Rebecca Braithwaitye 0-4 0-0 0, Kayla Dames 1-7 0-0 3, Lexy Herron 1-9 7-9 9, Kristina Coyne 1-1 1-2 3, Paige Aleski 5-13 0-0 12, Alyssa Mazzarini 2-2 1-1 5. Totals: 10-36 10-14 33

Mercyhurst Prep 17 11 10 12—50Chartiers Valley 14 9 5 5—333-point goals: Mercyhurst Prep 0; Chartiers Valley 3 (Aleski 2, Dames).

Championship GameHOPEWELL 68Amanda Tocci 1-3 3-4 6, Elise Farris 6-6 4-9 16, Paige Alviani 2-6 3-4 8, Olivia Bonavita 2-2 0-0 4, Samantha Fisher 3-10 2-2 8, Lindsay McKay 0-1 0-0 0, Shatori Walker-Kimbrough 10-14 6-8 26. Totals: 24-42 18-28 68

BUTLER 53Casey Fleeger 3-5 0-1 8, Katresa Savisky 1-4 3-4 5, Becky Nowacki 2-4 0-0 4, Olivia Bresnahan 7-15 3-8 17, Emily Wise 0-7 0-1 0, Casie Cygan 6-17 2-2 19, Jasmine Bailey 0-1 0-0 0, Caitlin Baxter 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 19-53 8-16 53

Hopewell 17 12 19 20—68Butler 9 14 14 16—533-point goals: Hopewell 2 (Alviani, Tocci); Butler 7 (Cygan 5, Fleeger 2).

Junior varsity: Butler, 40-36, 2OT (B: Caitlin Baxter 14, MacKenzie O'Donnell 13; H: Madi Rowan 16, Lindsay McKay 10)

Monday: Mt. Lebanon at Butler