How Butler girls basketball’s strategy helped in win over Latrobe

December 23, 2024 Last Updated: December 23, 2024 11:29 PM Sports

The Butler girls basketball team defeated Greater Latrobe 42-39 in a girls basketball game on Monday, Dec. 23, 2024, at Butler High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle. For more pictures, go to photos.butlereagle.com

Butler’s Malina McElroy (1) takes it to the rim past Greater Latrobe’s _____________ (14) in a girls basketball game on Monday, Dec. 23, 2024, at Butler High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle. For more pictures, go to photos.butlereagle.com

Rob McGraw

The Butler girls basketball team defeat Greater Latrobe 42-39 in a girls basketball game on Monday, Dec. 23, 2024, at Butler High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle. For more pictures, go to photos.butlereagle.com

Rob McGraw

Butler’s Amelia McMichael shoots over Greater Latrobe to score a 3-point shot in a girls basketball game on Monday, Dec. 23, 2024, at Butler High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle. For more pictures, go to photos.butlereagle.com

Rob McGraw

The Butler girls basketball team defeated Greater Latrobe 42-39 in a girls basketball game on Monday, Dec. 23, 2024, at Butler High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle. For more pictures, go to photos.butlereagle.com
The Butler girls basketball team defeated Greater Latrobe 42-39 in a girls basketball game on Monday, Dec. 23, 2024, at Butler High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle. For more pictures, go to photos.butlereagle.com
The Butler girls basketball team defeated Greater Latrobe 42-39 in a girls basketball game on Monday, Dec. 23, 2024, at Butler High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle. For more pictures, go to photos.butlereagle.com
The Butler girls basketball team defeated Greater Latrobe 42-39 in a girls basketball game on Monday, Dec. 23, 2024, at Butler High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle. For more pictures, go to photos.butlereagle.com
The Butler girls basketball team defeated Greater Latrobe 42-39 in a girls basketball game on Monday, Dec. 23, 2024, at Butler High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle. For more pictures, go to photos.butlereagle.com
The Butler girls basketball team defeated Greater Latrobe 42-39 in a girls basketball game on Monday, Dec. 23, 2024, at Butler High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle. For more pictures, go to photos.butlereagle.com
The Butler girls basketball team defeated Greater Latrobe 42-39 in a girls basketball game on Monday, Dec. 23, 2024, at Butler High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle. For more pictures, go to photos.butlereagle.com
The Butler girls basketball team defeated Greater Latrobe 42-39 in a girls basketball game on Monday, Dec. 23, 2024, at Butler High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle. For more pictures, go to photos.butlereagle.com
The Butler girls basketball team defeated Greater Latrobe 42-39 in a girls basketball game on Monday, Dec. 23, 2024, at Butler High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle. For more pictures, go to photos.butlereagle.com
The Butler girls basketball team defeated Greater Latrobe 42-39 in a girls basketball game on Monday, Dec. 23, 2024, at Butler High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle. For more pictures, go to photos.butlereagle.com
Butler’s Malina McElroy (1) takes it to the rim past Greater Latrobe’s _____________ (14) in a girls basketball game on Monday, Dec. 23, 2024, at Butler High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle. For more pictures, go to photos.butlereagle.com
The Butler girls basketball team defeated Greater Latrobe 42-39 in a girls basketball game on Monday, Dec. 23, 2024, at Butler High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle. For more pictures, go to photos.butlereagle.com

Rob McGraw
The Butler girls basketball team defeated Greater Latrobe 42-39 in a girls basketball game on Monday, Dec. 23, 2024, at Butler High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle. For more pictures, go to photos.butlereagle.com

Rob McGraw
The Butler girls basketball team defeated Greater Latrobe 42-39 in a girls basketball game on Monday, Dec. 23, 2024, at Butler High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle. For more pictures, go to photos.butlereagle.com

Rob McGraw
The Butler girls basketball team defeated Greater Latrobe 42-39 in a girls basketball game on Monday, Dec. 23, 2024, at Butler High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle. For more pictures, go to photos.butlereagle.com

Rob McGraw
The Butler girls basketball team defeated Greater Latrobe 42-39 in a girls basketball game on Monday, Dec. 23, 2024, at Butler High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle. For more pictures, go to photos.butlereagle.com

Rob McGraw
The Butler girls basketball team defeated Greater Latrobe 42-39 in a girls basketball game on Monday, Dec. 23, 2024, at Butler High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle. For more pictures, go to photos.butlereagle.com

Rob McGraw
The Butler girls basketball team defeated Greater Latrobe 42-39 in a girls basketball game on Monday, Dec. 23, 2024, at Butler High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle. For more pictures, go to photos.butlereagle.com

Rob McGraw
The Butler girls basketball team defeated Greater Latrobe 42-39 in a girls basketball game on Monday, Dec. 23, 2024, at Butler High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle. For more pictures, go to photos.butlereagle.com

Rob McGraw
The Butler girls basketball team defeated Greater Latrobe 42-39 in a girls basketball game on Monday, Dec. 23, 2024, at Butler High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle. For more pictures, go to photos.butlereagle.com

Rob McGraw
The Butler girls basketball team defeated Greater Latrobe 42-39 in a girls basketball game on Monday, Dec. 23, 2024, at Butler High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle. For more pictures, go to photos.butlereagle.com

Rob McGraw
The Butler girls basketball team defeated Greater Latrobe 42-39 in a girls basketball game on Monday, Dec. 23, 2024, at Butler High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle. For more pictures, go to photos.butlereagle.com

Rob McGraw
The Butler girls basketball team defeated Greater Latrobe 42-39 in a girls basketball game on Monday, Dec. 23, 2024, at Butler High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle. For more pictures, go to photos.butlereagle.com

Rob McGraw
The Butler girls basketball team defeated Greater Latrobe 42-39 in a girls basketball game on Monday, Dec. 23, 2024, at Butler High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle. For more pictures, go to photos.butlereagle.com

Rob McGraw
The Butler girls basketball team defeated Greater Latrobe 42-39 in a girls basketball game on Monday, Dec. 23, 2024, at Butler High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle. For more pictures, go to photos.butlereagle.com

Rob McGraw
The Butler girls basketball team defeated Greater Latrobe 42-39 in a girls basketball game on Monday, Dec. 23, 2024, at Butler High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle. For more pictures, go to photos.butlereagle.com

Rob McGraw
The Butler girls basketball team defeated Greater Latrobe 42-39 in a girls basketball game on Monday, Dec. 23, 2024, at Butler High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle. For more pictures, go to photos.butlereagle.com

Rob McGraw
The Butler girls basketball team defeated Greater Latrobe 42-39 in a girls basketball game on Monday, Dec. 23, 2024, at Butler High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle. For more pictures, go to photos.butlereagle.com

Rob McGraw
The Butler girls basketball team defeated Greater Latrobe 42-39 in a girls basketball game on Monday, Dec. 23, 2024, at Butler High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle. For more pictures, go to photos.butlereagle.com

Rob McGraw
The Butler girls basketball team defeated Greater Latrobe 42-39 in a girls basketball game on Monday, Dec. 23, 2024, at Butler High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle. For more pictures, go to photos.butlereagle.com

Rob McGraw
The Butler girls basketball team defeated Greater Latrobe 42-39 in a girls basketball game on Monday, Dec. 23, 2024, at Butler High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle. For more pictures, go to photos.butlereagle.com

Rob McGraw
The Butler girls basketball team defeat Greater Latrobe 42-39 in a girls basketball game on Monday, Dec. 23, 2024, at Butler High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle. For more pictures, go to photos.butlereagle.com

Rob McGraw
The Butler girls basketball team defeated Greater Latrobe 42-39 in a girls basketball game on Monday, Dec. 23, 2024, at Butler High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle. For more pictures, go to photos.butlereagle.com

Rob McGraw
The Butler girls basketball team defeated Greater Latrobe 42-39 in a girls basketball game on Monday, Dec. 23, 2024, at Butler High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle. For more pictures, go to photos.butlereagle.com

Rob McGraw
The Butler girls basketball team defeated Greater Latrobe 42-39 in a girls basketball game on Monday, Dec. 23, 2024, at Butler High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle. For more pictures, go to photos.butlereagle.com

Rob McGraw
The Butler girls basketball team defeated Greater Latrobe 42-39 in a girls basketball game on Monday, Dec. 23, 2024, at Butler High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle. For more pictures, go to photos.butlereagle.com

Rob McGraw
Butler’s Amelia McMichael shoots over Greater Latrobe to score a 3-point shot in a girls basketball game on Monday, Dec. 23, 2024, at Butler High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle. For more pictures, go to photos.butlereagle.com

Rob McGraw

BUTLER TWP — Game plans work well on chalkboards, but executing them on the court is not a

certainty.

Against Latrobe on Monday, Butler’s girls basketball team knew what its objective was and the Golden Tornado reached it in impressive fashion.

Facing a Wildcats team that was averaging over 57 points per game, Butler’s agenda was to focus on two players.

“We knew that (Carley Berk and Maggie Maiers) were their best players,” sophomore guard Eva Stutz said. “Our goal was to deny them as much as we could.”

Butler’s Ashton Huff drives past Latrobe’s Carley Berk during the Golden Tornado’s 42-39 victory on Monday. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle. For more pictures, go to photos.butlereagle.com

Rob McGraw

Berk led all scorers with 20 points, but Maiers was held to just five points, 10 short of her average. The defensive effort helped Butler hold off Latrobe in a 42-39 non-section decision in the Tornado’s gym.

“We tried making it tough on (Berk),” Butler coach Mark Maier said. “She had some drives and got to the line a few times, but if you can make a team one-dimensional, it makes it tough on them and we did that tonight.

“We played zone for a while and they didn’t shoot well against it.”

For the game, Latrobe shot just 30 percent (16 of 53) from the floor.

Berk drained a 3-pointer to put Latrobe up 25-22 with three minutes left in the third quarter, but Butler used the rest of the period to go on an 8-0 run. Stutz accounted for six of those points — on a trey and a conventional 3-point play — to give the Tornado a 30-25 lead with one quarter to play.

Latrobe (5-4) never pulled even with the Tornado (6-2). Brylee Bodnar’s jumper pulled the Wildcats to within 39-37 with 1:30 remaining in the game, but they drew no closer.

For the second straight game, Butler was without one of its leaders. In last Thursday’s overtime win against North Hills, Amelia McMichael was out with an illness. She returned Monday and led the team in scoring with 18 points, but senior point guard Sydney Patterson was absent, also due to an illness.

“I’m hoping to have our full team on the court Friday (in Butler’s holiday tournament),” Maier said. “We had Amelia back tonight, but she spent much of the third quarter on the bench with three fouls. Ashton Huff came in and did a very good job with rebounds. She’s our tallest player (5-foot-10), our longest player.”

The Tornado have won three straight, the last two by a combined five points.

“Making plays to win close games helps build confidence, especially when we’ve had key players out of the lineup,” Stutz said.

Avery Maier paced Butler on the boards with eight rebounds.

Butler’s junior varsity team also won, moving the team’s record to 6-0.

LATROBE 39

Brie Havrilla 0 1-2 1, Carley Berk 8 3-6 20, Brylee Bodnar 3 0-0 6, Maggie Maiers 2 1-3 5, Emry Bridge 1 0-0 3, Miley Williams 2 0-0 4, Kenzie Johnson 0 0-0 0, Julianna Bulebosh 0 0-0 0. Totals: 16 5-11 39.

BUTLER 42

Malina McElroy 1 5-6 8, Cam Booher 1 0-0 2, Avery Maier 0 2-2 2, Amelia McMichael 8 0-0 18, Casey Clouse 1 0-2 2, Ashton Huff 2 0-0 4, Eva Stutz 2 1-1 6, Emily Hoffer 0 0-0 0. Totals: 15 8-11 42.

Latrobe 11 6 8 14 — 39

Butler 14 6 10 12 — 42

3-point goals: Latrobe 2 (Berk, Bridge); Butler 4 (McMichael 2, Stutz, McElroy).

Friday: Moon at Butler, 2:30 p.m.