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On top of the heap
Butler girls' latest win gives them section lead
By John Enrietto
Eagle Sports Editor
NEW CASTLE— It was Day's night.
Butler senior point guard Lyndsy Day scored a career-high 20 points Tuesday night. including the Golden Tornado's final nine of the game. in leading her team to a 47-42 girls basketball win over New Castle.
The victory was Butler's 14th in a row and gives the Tornado (15-1, 6-0) sole possession of first place in Section 3-AAAA.
"This is a perfect way to end the first half of the section season: 6-0,"Day said. "Now, we can try to do more of the same when we play all these teams again.
"If we wanted to win the section, we knew we had to have this game."
So Day and her teammates went out and got it.
The lead changed hands 10 times and the score was tied on five other occasions. New Castle (9-3, 5-1) had a 37-33 lead with five minutes to go before watching the Tornado go on a 10-0 run to take control of the contest.
Casie Cygan canned a 3-point goal and Jenna Manuel sank a layup to give Butler a 38-37 advantage. Day drained a 3-pointer moments later, then drove to the hoop for a layup and a 43-37 Tornado lead with 3:06 remaining.
"A four-point lead and we give up two open 3s and a dribble drive,"New Castle coach Luann Grybowski fumed. "That's unacceptable for this team.
"We gave this game away. That's our third loss in five games. ... That hasn't happened around here in seven years."
Nursing its six-point lead, Butler called a timeout with 2:13 left and decided to spread the floor. Olivia Bresnahan wound up missing a layup and New Castle's Tasia Wise sank a short jumper on the other end.
Butler stayed with the spread, but Wise stole a pass and drove the other way for a layup, cutting the gap to 43-41 with 1:17 left.
The Tornado's answer?Put the ball in Day's hands.
"She doesn't miss at the line,"Butler coach Dorothea Epps said.
The teams exchanged turnovers before Day was fouled with 10.4 seconds left. She sank both free throws.
The Red Hurricanes still had a chance when Butler inexplicably fouled with 4.1 seconds to go, putting Abby Allen at the line. Allen made the first free throw, cutting the gap to 45-42, missed the second and New Castle's Jazelle Dennis snared the rebound in the deep left corner.
Before Dennis could fling a desperation 3-point shot at the hoop, her momentum carried her out of bounds.
New Castle fouled Day with 1.2 seconds left. The point guard sank both free throws to seal the victory.
"I've been pretty good at the foul line,"Day said. "It's pretty natural for me. Besides, I haven't been playing that well the last couple of games. I owed the team this."
Day was the lone Butler player in double figures. Bresnahan added nine points and five rebounds, and Cygan netted eight points off the bench.
Butler had 18 turnovers — 15 in the first half.
"Yes, we addressed that at halftime,"Epps said. "We needed our seniors to step up in the second half. We can't always rely on our sophomore (Bresnahan) to carry the load.
"But that's what I like about this team. Tonight, it was Day. It could be Karissa King on another night, Kayla Gilliland — anybody. I feel good about this group."
Wise led New Castle with 17 points and nine rebounds. Logan Hartman added 12 points. The 'Canes sank only one of six free throws and had 20 field goals to Butler's 14.
They also had 23 turnovers.
"We're averaging 22 turnovers a game,"Grybowski said. "That's been our story. I'm going to learn about the character of these girls now. We're either going to rebound from this or we're going into a tailspin."
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