Alexander

 I believe that the MVP of a league should usually be the best player on the best team, but picking that player for Division II of the Genesee Region League is impossible this year.

Elba didn't lose a league game all season long and were obviously the best team in both divisions. Picking an MVP from that squad is not so obvious.

Coach Tom Nowak has used a unique style of play for his squad this season where he rotated two groups of five players and they pressed the heck out of their opponents. It worked, but there was no one player that stands out as the MVP of that squad.

It would not be fair to vote Cassy Engle or Sarah Schwartzmeyer as the top player when girls like Chelsie Pangrazio, Julie Marshall and Rachael Cook were also just as important to that team.

So with that being the case, the MVP award for Division II is deferred to the best player on the second place team. Notre Dame has several stars as well, but I'd give the division MVP award to Nichole Hart.

Hart is a pure shooter that had many big games for the Fighting Irish. With Liz Geandreau and Brittany Morelli providing a solid inside presence, Hart's ability to hit long jumpers and 3-pointers makes Notre Dame a tough team to defend.

The Division I MVP is a much easier call as Alexander's Anni Lehtola was a scoring machine. The addition of the foreign exchange student from Finland turned a very good team into a great team. 

There was little doubt this season that the Trojans were going to win Division I, and the team is the top seed in Class C.

 After blowing a lead and the game against Akron in the Genesee Region League/Niagara-Orleans League Showdown on Saturday, the Oakfield-Alabama boys basketball team was looking to end the season on a positive note before going into sectionals.

It was obvious that it was going to happen as the Hornets jumped out to a 17-3 lead in beating visiting Alexander 73-41 on senior night.

Senior stars Noah Seward and Brad Riner got O-A off to a 9-0 start right off the bat as Riner had five points and Seward four, just a couple of minutes into the contest.

Tim Smith scored seven straight points and all of a sudden the Hornets were ahead by 14 points with just 3 1/2 minutes gone off the clock.

Troy Shelnut ended the fierce O-A scoring with a 3-pointer, but Sam McCracken had four points and Seward added another bucket late in the opening frame to give the Hornets a 27-13 lead after a period of play.

McCracken had two quick baskets in the second quarter and Seward had four points, but Oakfield-Alabama played its worst of four quarters. Josh Athoe also hit a 3-pointer in the frame and O-A actually extended the lead to 38-19 despite not being happy with the way they played in the frame.

The "big 3" of Seward, Riner and Smith were able to rest for most of the fourth quarter, but all three contributed in the third.

Seward had six points, Smith had five and Riner hit a 3-pointer late in the quarter and the game was officially a blowout after the third quarter with Oakfield-Alabama leading 61-28.

Athoe had four points in the fourth quarter and O-A rolled to the 73-41 victory.

Seward had yet another double-double, scoring 14 points and pulling down 13 rebounds, with Riner helping out with eight points and 11 assists.

Smith scored 15 points and A.J. Kehlenbeck had 10 points with 13 boards. McCracken finished with 13 points and Athoe chipped in nine.

Kyle Woodruff had 14 points for Alexander, which ends the season with a 7-12 record.

Oakfield-Alabama improves to 17-3 and will be the third seed in the Section 5 Class C1 tournament and should be hosting Canisteo-Greenwood in the first round.

The Genesee Region League Division I champion Alexander girls basketball team wrapped up the regular season and clinched the top seed in the Section 5 Class C tournament with a 54-28 win over visiting Oakfield-Alabama Monday.

Anni Lehtola led the way for the Trojans (14-4) with 24 points, four steals and five rebounds with Katie Kochmanski finishing with a double-double with 12 points and 13 rebounds.

Brynne Perfitt had 11 points to lead the Hornets (10-10).

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Nichole Hart scored 24 points - including five 3-pointers - as Notre Dame thumped visiting Wheatland-Chili 57-24.

Jill Marshall had eight points and Trisha Pike added six for the Fighting Irish (16-4).

Lauren Drago had 10 points to lead the Wildcats (4-16).

2:20 p.m. - We are about 15 minutes from tip-off and it looks like Alexander is going to have its hands full with the Charter School of Applied Technology (CSAT). There is an obvious advantage in terms of size and athletic ability going to CSAT. I just talked to the Eagles' scorekeeper and he says Randall Billups and Ryan Pace are big-time, so we are going to see what Kyle Woodruff and Co. can do to represent the GR.

2:44 p.m.  - Alexander played a great first quarter. CSAT played a very up-tempo and aggressive type of game, but the Trojans did a good job of slowing down the game and getting off good shots. Woodruff got things going early for the Trojans with a basket and a 3-pointer. Stephen George had six points in the opening period as well and Woodruff finished with seven. Alexander leads 19-13.

3:04 p.m.  - CSAT is way more athletic than Alexander, and it has shown in the turnovers and rebounding. But the Trojans were in control and kept a level head, leading 27-24 at halftime.

The second quarter saw Jared Quinn scored twice and CSAT miss many open looks.  Alexander is going to be in good shape if the game can stay like this. I'd expect to see the Trojans look for some early 3-pointers to extend the lead and force the Eagles to play from behind in the second half.

3:26 p.m. - Alexander has finally switched to a zone defense and CSAT can't hit a shot, but the Trojans are also turning the ball over a lot and lost the lead.

Ryan Pace hit a basket and Randall Billups had a score with an and-1 to give CSAT a 29-27 lead early in the third. But Quinn gave the Trojans back the lead with a pair of buckets.  The score changed hands a couple of times but consecutive baskets by Desmond LaMar and DeMarius Billups gave CSAT the 36-35 lead heading into the final frame.

 3:53 p.m. - With the Trojans in a zone and the Eagles not hitting a shot, LaMar changed the entire outlook of the game at the start of the fourth quarter. The 5-foot-8 freshman guard hit two medium-range jump shots and forced Alexander back into a man defense.

The Trojans had been keeping up through three quarters but running up and down the floor finally took its toll in the final period. CSAT had a huge edge in turnovers and was finally getting down the floor fast enough to get open looks, knocking the shots down and turning a close game into one in which nearly ended up in double figures.

Pace scored nine of his game-high 20 in the fourth quarter.

The CSAT lead wound up getting to as high as 12 points, but Alexander made the final score respectable as Woodruff nailed an NBA 3-pointer with 15 seconds left and 2-of-3 free throw attempts with five seconds left.

Woodruff was held to just 13 points with Quinn chipping in 12 and George 9 for Alexander.

Final score 56-48, CSAT. Albion and Attica are coming up.

Byron-Bergen nearly pulled off a major upset Thursday night in a game against Alexander, having a 9-1 advantage in the fourth quarter.

But the Trojans held on and won the game 51-49 to improve to 15-4.

Katie Kochmanski scored 12 points with Anni Lehtola adding 11 and Chelsea Turcer pitching in nine.

Kizzy Heale had 15 points and Rori Partridge added 12 for the Bees (9-10).

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Trisha Pike scored a team-high 15 points to lead Notre Dame to a 69-31 thumping of host Lima Christian.

Nichole Hart had 14 points and Liz Geandreau pitched in 12. Brittany Morelli finished with 10 points.

Laurel Clark had 17 for LC.

Notre Dame is 15-4.

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Meghan Fahy nearly dropped in 25 points as Kendall downed Wheatland-Chili 56-41.

Fahy ended up with 24 points with Samantha D'Agostino finished the game with 19 points.

Lauren Drago had 24 points to lead the Wildcats (4-13).

Kendall is 5-12.

Alexander's Kyle Woodruff and Oakfield-Alabama's Tim Smith shared the Players of the Week honors this week for Genesee Region League Division I.

Woodruff averaged 15.5 points, seven rebounds and two blocks as the Trojans beat Holley 65-62 and lost to Pembroke 75-37.  Woodruff reached the 30-point plateau in the win over the Hawks.

Smith had solid games in both of Oakfield-Alabama's victories last week. He had 14 points and four steals in a 65-43 win over Byron-Bergen and followed with a seven point, three steal effort in a 68-23 win over Holley. Smith totaled 21 points, 14 rebounds, eight assists and seven steals in the victories.

Notre Dame's Kevin Francis had a huge scoring week to earn the honors for Division II.

The senior guard had 20 points, five rebounds, six assists and seven steals in a win over Lyndonville and followed with a 27-point, six rebound, six assist, nine steal performance in a victory over Kendall.

Notre Dame also had the Player of the Week on the girls side in Division II. 

Sophomore Liz Geandreau averaged a double-double in wins over Pavilion, Lyndonville and Kendall. She averaged 11 points and 10 boards in the victories.

Alexander's Anna Dominick wins the award for Division I as she scored a combined 27 points with seven assists and eight steals in wins over Pembroke and Holley.

When Chelsea Turcer noticed that nobody was bothering to guard her and her, she figured that it was time to put the nail in the coffin.

Alexander had already overcome a nearly double-figure deficit in the third quarter to take the lead and she wanted to put the game away.

She did just that as she chucked up and made a 3-pointer to wrap up the Trojans 53-48 win over Pembroke in a great Genesee Region League game Friday.

 A lot of things happened before Turcer drained the trey that most will remember from this game.

Alexander was up 10-5 early on before Danielle Smith scored and hit a pair of foul shots to cut the lead to 10-9 at the end of the first quarter.

Alexander's Anni Lehtola opened the second quarter with a 3-pointer and had another bucket early on as the Trojans kept the lead around two points.

But the tide changed in the final minute of the half.

Jackie DuBois scored two consecutive baskets to give Pembroke a 26-25 lead - their first of the night - with 37 seconds left in the half.

That burst of momentum took a little bit in the third quarter as the Trojans regained the lead on a free throw by Lehtola, but by the midpoint the lead had grown to nine points.

Kelsey Lewis hit a long jumper, Nicole Sharick dropped in a basket and then a 3-pointer to give Pembroke a 36-29 advantage.

Katie Hackett extended the lead with a basket and then added another score with about a second left in the third quarter to give Pembroke a 42-35 lead going into the final frame.

Alexander has had issues in the third quarter this season, but always seems to right things in the fourth.

Again, the Trojans stepped up to the challenge.

Nicki Laird and Rachael Pettys had baskets before Lehtola hit a 3-pointer to get within two points.

Sarah Herman tied the game with a basket and Alexander wound up taking a 48-46 lead when Pettys scored. Katie Kochmanski added another basket to make it a four point game.

The Dragons did score with 40 seconds left, but Turcer's 3-pointer with seconds left ended the game.

Lehtola had 15 points to lead the Trojans, with Pettys adding eight points, 15 rebounds, four steals and two blocked shots. Anna Dominick had 13 points with three boards and four steals as Alexander improves to 11-4.

Sharick led the Dragons (9-7) with 11 points, but Lewis chipped in nine points and Pettys had eight.

Early in the season, there were issues with the Pembroke boys basketball team.

The roster only had seven players, there was some infighting with the players, they had no true point guard and the wins weren't coming. But the Dragons have now blown out four straight teams because of a 75-37 win over visiting Alexander Thursday.

Part of that problem was solved when Steve Moser showed up very early in the season as a transfer from St. Joe's in Buffalo, and the rest of the problem was solved with time.

Now, Pembroke is ready to wrap up the season with some wins, take on the first Genesee Region/Niagara-Orleans Tournament and then sectionals.

The Dragons improve to 10-6 and did it by thumping a team that isn't bad and did it in big-time fashion.

The game was never a question as Pembroke jumped out to a 19-7 lead in the first quarter with Ken Babcock dominating inside the paint. He owned the boards and scored two baskets, and got help from Andrew Gabbey, who dropped in two 3-pointers in the opening frame.

The Trojans went blow-for-blow in the second quarter, with both teams scoring 14 points., but it was still 33-21 Pembroke at the half.

Babcock had six points in the third quarter and Andrew Wright started taking over the game. Wright had just four points in the frame, but was big on the boards and was getting steals. The Dragons had a 20-7 advantage in the third.

Wright scored seven points in the fourth quarter and Pembroke had a 22-9 advantage in the fourth quarter for the huge victory.

This is a team that got off to a really ugly start and is now playing some solid basketball. Oakfield-Alabama wrapped up the Genesee Region League Division II title with a win tonight, so Pembroke is now focusing on the sectional playoffs.

The addition of  Moser was huge. Wright was out of position and had to bring the ball up the floor. That took his inside presence out of the mix.

Moser is a solid point guard, scoring nine points with six assists in the game.

Wright scored a game-high 19 points with 11 rebounds and seven steals and Babcock pitched in 13 points and 10 boards.

Eric Leffel also had nine points for Pembroke.

Alexander (6-9) was led by Zach Burke, who scored 10 points.

In the spotlight match in all of Section 5 today, Greece Olympia's John Veltre upped his season record to 49-0 with a pin over Batavia's Ryan Darch in 3:12 at 160 pounds.

Olympia went on to win the dual meet at Batavia 35-21.

Anthony D'Aurizio pinned Zack Beauregard in just 1:02 for the Blue Devils with Josh Mase getting a tech fall victory over D.J. Bentley in 5:30 at 103.

Troy Ireland also had a win for Batavia (18-6).

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Jordan Kiessling picked up his 100th career win as Byron-Bergen beat Alexander 58-24.

The 171-pounder topped Dustin Say 11-1 in leading the Bees.

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Kendall's Devin Iqbal had a quick pin to lead Kendall to a 48-39 win over Pembroke.

Iqbal pinned Dean Culinan in just 37 seconds at 96 pounds.

 Notre Dame may have suffered a difficult loss, but guard Kevin Schildwaster was named Player of the Week for Genesee Region League Division II.

Schildwaster won two of three games this week, and has had a big week playing defense. He also had a season-high 13 points against Prattsburgh.

Byron-Bergen's 6-foot-6 forward David Garnish won the honor for Division I. He averaged 7.5 points, 9.5 rebounds and two blocks this past week.

Alexander's Rachel Pettys had a total of 18 points, 24 rebounds, eight assists, 12 steals and six blocked shots in a win over Lyndonville and a loss to Elba. She earned GR Player of the Week for Division I.

Kendall's Meghan Fahy scored 41 points and had 12 boards in two games last week. The Eagles lost to Oakfield-Alabama by just one point and her free throw shooting was a big reason why. Fahy hit 11-of-12 from the charity stripe.

Alexander played in the Newark Varsity tournament on the Sunday before MLK day and came away with a solid performance.  Alexander started the day with a 2-1 win over Gananda with goals from Anna Dominick and Julia Pettys with Gabby Kwiatek picking up an assist.  Alexander then beat North Rose Wolcott 1-0 on a goal from Dominick.  In the final game of the round robin Alexander fell to Pal-Mac 1-0.  Alexander was the 2nd seed from their group and Pal-Mac was the top seed with a 3-0 record.

In the other bracket Addison cruised to a 3-0 record and the top seed while Newark was 2-1 with their only loss a 3-0 beating from Addison.

Alexander and Addison played in the semi-finals and Addison jumped out to a 1-0 lead.  Dominick tied it at one but Addison took the kickoff and went right down the floor and fired a shot in to go ahead 2-1.  Alexander was unable to come back again and feel 2-1.  Newark then beat Pal-Mac 1-0 in the other semi-final and in the rematch from the earlier in the day Addison won 1-0 in OT.

Alexander's roster was Sopomore keeper Hannah Wilson, Junior defender Jamie Neth, Sophomore defender Savannah VanSon, 8th grade defender Gabby Kwiatek, Sophomore midfielders Autumn Atkinson and Tessa Bigelow, Junior forward Anna Dominick, Sophomore forwards Megan Schmieder and Morgan Mattice, and 9th grade forward Julia Pettys.

The Genesee Lancers (Chilano) took hom the Medina U19 tournament title with a 3-1 win over Alexander in the final game.  The Lancers scored seconds into the final to take a 1-0 lead.  Alexander scored a few minutes after that to knot the score at one a piece.  The Lancers would score just before the midway mark to make the score 2-1.  Just after the mdiway mark the Lancers scored a 3rd goal to go ahead 3-1 which was the final score.  It was a very competitive final game with some great soccer to watch.  Both teams moved the ball well and had some great chances on goal.

During the earlier games of the tournament Alexander clinched the top seed with a 3-0 record with a 1-0 win over the Lancers (Hein), a 3-1 win over the YMCA/ND team and a 1-0 win over Gananda.  The Lancers (Chilano) earned the #2 seed with wins over GVBBSC and Attica and a loss to Albion.  Albion was the #3 seed with a win over the Lancers (Chilano), a tie against Attica, and a loss to GVBBSC.  The Lancers (Hein) earned the 4th seed with a loss to Alexander, a tie against Gananda, and a win over the YMCA/ND team.  Gananda had a solid day as well with a tie against the Lancers (Hein), a win over YMCA/ND, and a loss to Alexander.  The Lancers (Hein) earned the 4th seed thanks to a slight tiebreaker advantage over Gananda.

In the 1st round of the playoffs the Lancers (Chilano) avenged their loss to Albion with a 3-0 win in the 1st semi-final game.  Alexander knocked off the Lancers (Hein) 2-0 to earn their spot in the final.

Alexander's roster included sophomores goal keeper Hannah Wilson, sophomore defenders Savannah VanSon, Summer Bliss, and Claire Hartl, sophomore midfielders Tessa Bigelow and Autumn Atkinson, sophomore forwards Kylie Bank, Amber Finan, and Ashley Szymanski, and 8th grade defender Gabby Kwiatek.

The Notre Dame girls basketball team is scheduled to play at Wheatland-Chili today. But like every other team in the area, they are getting the day off due to the weather.

Scheduling conflicts are always a pain in the butt this time of year and right now coach Dave Pero's squad is not overly thrilled with missing out on this game.

Pero tried to reschedule the game for Tuesday with Wheatland-Chili coach Todd Grimes, but that wasn't possible.

The two are trying to set something up for Friday at this point and the Fighting Irish really need the game.

"This is awful," said Pero, whose team is just 2-1. "We haven't played two games in a week yet and we have no rhythm. We played Elba and we just weren't ready. We haven't played enough."

The Lancers beat Notre Dame 54-51 last Tuesday, Some area teams have played as many as eight games, but the Fighting Irish have played just three games, and with the Christmas break going on this week the team isn't even getting much practice time.

If the Wheatland-Chili game can't be rescheduled for Friday, that means Notre Dame will not take the court again until Monday, Dec 29 in the opening round of the Byron-Bergen Christmas Tournament. The consolation and finals are on Dec. 30.

The next games are at the Rotary Tournament on Jan. 5 and 7.

"We have the Christmas Tournament and then the Rotary Tournament coming up. I hope we are ready for it," Pero said.

Pero does think that there is some advantage to his team playing so few games so far in the fact that they Fighting Irish will be playing a lot of games late in the season, which will hopefully have them ready for sectionals.

But he is ready for his squad to get into some kind of rhythm right now.

"Somewhere down the road the teams that have played eight games will be having the same lull we are having right now," Pero said. "Our philosophy is that we want to be better at the end of the year. Hopefully that will pay off by us not playing games right now, but we want to get into a flow."

Notre Dame is not the only school that will probably not get to play its athletic contests. The Elba boys are supposed to be playing at Albion, but Elba is closed.

There are plenty of girls games on tap for tonight, including Alexander at Kendall and Medina at Lyndonville. But odds are, they won't be played either and will be made up at a later date.

The Batavia girls basketball team pulled off an upset Tuesday, surprising visiting Pittsford Sutherland 55-54.

"I hope this gives us (confidence)," Batavia coach Bill Wade said. "I told them after the game that we would be enjoying the game until 3:30 tomorrow, then we start getting ready for Brighton on Friday. I think the confidence started coming after winning the Attica Tournament and then beating Elba in overtime. I hope this takes us to the next level."

Batavia trailed 13-9 after the opening period, but Brittany Wormley scored eight of her 10 points, keeping the Blue Devils in the game.

Michelle Jordan took over the second half and scored seven of her 11 points.

Batavia wound up taking a 55-50 lead with moments left in the game when Kayli O'Keefe hit a 3-pointer to make it a two point game. She was then fouled and hit one of two free throws.

Jaycee Shirk had 16 points and 10 rebounds with Brittany Mazurkiewiecz and Stacey Hein dishing out five assists each.

Sutherland falls to 4-3.

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Nicole Sharick had five of her nine points in overtime to lead Pembroke to a 43-42 win over host Oakfield-Alabama.

Sharick went 3-of-3 from the charity striple down the stretch and had six steals in the game.

The Hornets actually had a two point lead but Danielle Smith scored with two seconds left to force the extra session.

Kelsey Lewis scored 13 points with seven boards for the Dragons (3-2).

Brynn Perfitt had 10 points and four steals and Dani Sage grabbed 24 rebounds for the Hornets (3-2).

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Anni Lehtola had 13 points and Nicki Laird added six points with 18 rebounds to lead the Trojans to a 56-32 win over Attica.

Rachel Pettys had nine points, eight boards and four assists for Alexander (4-1).

Margaret LeFleur had nine points to lead Attica.

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Byron-Bergen thumped visiting Holley 48-29 behind Mary Cocking's 13 points. Kaylee Ashbury had nine points and Kayleigh Puma chipped in eight points.

Julie Brooks scored 16 points for the Hawks.