The Lady Lancers hit 70 percent of their shots in the first half of Monday's game against Batavia propelling Elba to a 54-31 win.
Dakota Brinkman, who dropped three three-point buckets, scored 13 points for Elba, while Laci Sewar and Kennedy Augello scored nine each. Adrianna Long scored eight and Sydney Reilly scored seven.
Brinkman also had seven rebounds.
For Batavia, Jaylene Dersham scored 10 points.
The Batavia Blue Devils boys basketball team lost Thursday to Greece Olympia 64-47.
Javin McFollins and Tanner Mountain scored nine points each. Estavan Lovett and Sawyer Siverling scored six each.
Also in boys basketball, Notre Dame beat Lyndonville 83-56.
In girls basketball, Batavia beat Olympia 47-37. Jaylene Dersham scored 21 points and Julia Clark scored 10.
The Oakfield-Alabama boys basketball team moved its season record to 4-0 with a 66-45 win over Attica on Tuesday.
Scoring:
Also in boys basketball on Tuesday:
In girls basketball:
Oakfield-Alabama beat Alexander in boys basketball on Wednesday night 54-38.
For the Hornets,
For the Trojans:
Photos by Kristin Smith. For more, click here.
Also, in girls basketball, Elba beat Wheatland-Chili, 49-36. Game write-up by Drew Muehlig:
Led by senior Dakota Brinkman, Elba defeated Wheatland-Chili 49-36 Wednesday night in Genesee Region girls basketball.
The senior baller notched a double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Lady Lancers.
Elba also got strong performances from freshman Sydney Reilly (11 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists), senior Adrianna Long (5 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists) and sophomore Halie Deville (8 points and 6 rebounds).
Elba (1-2) led 29-13 at the half and led by as many as 19, but held off a valiant comeback effort by the Wildcats in the second half.
Chyene Whitcomb led Wheatland-Chili with 10 points and 3 steals despite being in foul trouble throughout the game. Thailaih Sainpaulin added three 3-pointers to finish with 9 points and Reghan LaMere added 6 points for Wildcats.
The Batavia Blue Devils overcame a first-half doldrums that left them trailing Greece Athena 34-21 to score 42 points in the second half, tying the score and sending the game into a double-overtime when Javin McFollins hit a three-pointer as the clock on regulation time expired.
McFollins finished the night with 18 points, hitting five three-pointers, including two in OT.
Carter McFollins also scored 18 points, Tanner Mountain scored 12, and Cam McClinic scored 10.
For Athena, Connor Osier scored 27 points.
Oakfield-Alabama beat Pembroke 74-46 on Monday night.
For the Hornets:
For Pembroke:
Photos by Kristin Smith. For more, click here.
Press release:
We are excited to have your school in the newly expanded Batavia Lions Club Tournament that now includes both a large and small school division. This year’s tournament is a 2-day affair with games on Tuesday, Dec. 28 and Thursday, Dec. 30. The only cost involved is two vouchers for the JV Tournament and one voucher for the Varsity to help cover the cost of having three officials on the Varsity games. This year Alexander replaces Perry and we are rotating the first-round matchups. More info will follow as we get closer to the basketball season.
The Batavia Lions Club is excited to have your team play in one of the best and longest-running Boys Basketball tournaments in Section V. The additional teams with their strong community support made this event even better than had been in the previously the past 2 years. There were great crowds which provided an exciting atmosphere for the student-athletes. Hoping for more of the same in December 2021!
Varsity Schedule JV Schedule
Tues Dec. 28 Tues Dec. 28
3:30 Roy-Hart vs LeRoy @ GCC Noon Roy-Hart vs LeRoy @ BHS
5:15 Elba vs O-A @ GCC Noon Elba vs O-A @ ND
7:00 Alexander vs ND @ GCC 1:30pm Alexander vs ND @ ND
8:45 Attica vs BHS @ GCC 1:30 Attica vs BHS @ BHS
Varsity Schedule JV Schedule
Thurs Dec. 30 Thurs Dec. 30
3:30 Large School Consolation @ GCC Noon Large School Consolation @ BHS
5:15 Small School Consolation @ GCC Noon Small School Consolation @ ND
7pm Small School Championship @ GCC 1:30 Small School Championship @ ND
9pm LargeSchool Championship @ GCC 1:30 LargeSchool Championship @ BHS
There will be a 15 minute warmup time for all games.
Photo: File photo from Lions Tournament in 2016
Press release:
The Notre Dame Board of Trustees on Wednesday announced the hiring of Mikey Rapone as the varsity boys basketball coach beginning in the 2022-23 season, replacing his father, Mike Rapone, who has compiled the most victories in Section V boys basketball history over a 42-year career.
Previously, Mike Rapone announced that he would be stepping down after this season. He has a 708-208 record at the varsity level.
Mikey Rapone (ND Class of 2002 and member of 2001 ND NYS Championship basketball team) has over 15 years coaching at Notre Dame, working with athletes, parents, administrators, and community members.
During the interview process, he commented that coaching in various positions at Notre Dame has enabled him to learn how to successfully motivate student-athletes by ascertaining their strengths as well as their weaknesses and to use this knowledge to assist them in working to achieve beyond their limitations while forging a team first attitude.
"I have gained an understanding of the unique balance of discipline, respect, support, and approachability one needs to maintain with student-athletes to be a successful coach," he said. "I feel that I have developed a great rapport with the teams I have coached and am proud of the relationships we share.”
Rapone said he developed his coaching style by learning from excellent coaches, including his father and also Bill Sutherland, Bill Wade, Dave Pero Sr., Wade Bianco, Marc Staley, Joe Zambito, Rick Rapone, Billy Sutherland, Rick Mancuso and Jim Fanara.
"That is a coaching tree that anyone interested in becoming a coach would love to have been able to learn from and it has prepared me well to maintain the tradition of excellence that is Notre Dame basketball," he said.
He acknowledged that "nobody can replace my father," but added that, "there is nothing more I would like to do than to be the next coach of the Notre Dame basketball program that he spent 40-plus years building."
"I plan to coach in the way that he has envisioned his program to be run by his successor and in a manner Notre Dame can be proud of. I am not my father. We haven’t always agreed on coaching strategies and personnel but the one thing I definitely share with my dad is his love and passion for Notre Dame, the student-athletes and especially the Notre Dame boys basketball program,” he offered.
Press release:
Mike Rapone, longtime Basketball Coach at Notre Dame HS, has informed the school that the upcoming 2021-2022 season will be his final one at the helm of one of Section V’s most successful boys basketball programs.
His final season will be his 42nd Varsity season and 45th season coaching basketball at ND.
On March 3rd, 2010, he surpassed legendary coach Ed Nietopski’ s 545 career wins to become Section V’s All-Time winningest coach. Coach Rapone has a Varsity record of 708-208 (Winning percentage 77.3) while his JV record of 47-7 includes consecutive unbeaten seasons in 1979 & 1980. Rapone coached teams won State Titles in 1992 & 2001, five regional titles, nine Section V titles (tied for the most all-time of any Section V coach), and 33 Genesee Region Division Championships.
He was inducted into the Section V Boys Basketball Hall of Fame in 2016 and Notre Dame HS Hall of Fame in 1996.
Winning the 2001 State Championship team provided one of the special memories of his distinguished coaching career as the roster included 11 players (of 13) that were sons of Coach Rapone’s Notre Dame High School classmate, his childhood friends or neighbors from LeRoy and included his son Mikey, his nephew and assistant coach Dave Pero’s son Jeff.
In the past 15 seasons, Coach Rapone feels blessed to have had the opportunity to work closely with his son Mikey watching him learn how to coach as he worked his way up from program assistant to JV Head coach to his current position as Varsity Associate Head Coach. This experience and time together with his son have made coaching at Notre Dame even more fulfilling.
When asked about why now to retire, Coach Rapone commented. “I always said I would know when it was time to move on from the job that I love. Being a basketball coach here has been a big part of my life but it is time. Coaching at Notre Dame provided me with the opportunity to help young men learn how to compete and work as a team while personally growing and maturing as individuals. I take great pride in the adults my players have become. Even though I will miss coaching, the time spent together with the team, and the thrill of competition, it is time for me to move on.”
The school will name Coach Rapone’s successor before the start of the upcoming season to ensure continuity and a smooth transition in the spring. Resumes can be submitted until Oct. 3 to michael.rapone@ndhsbatavia.com or wade.bianco@ndhsbatavia.com
Photo: File photo
Press release:
A Basketball Training Camp for the experienced and serious player only will be offered to boys in grades seven through 12 in Batavia city schools, and college.
July 5th - Aug. 6th (5-week program)
Cost: $350* **
*Sibling Discount: First sibling full price each one after is $175
**Team Discount: $325 per player for teams of five or more attending.
Players must bring their own basketballs.
********Here's a two-page PDF containing the flier and the APPLICATION FORM.********
Coach is Buddy Brasky, Batavia High School's Varsity Boys head coach. Under his direction, Batavia has won 12 league titles, six sectional titles, and has reached the state semifinals four times over the last 18 years.
He has been awarded Section V Coach of the Year six times, Monroe County Coach of the Year six times and All-Greater Rochester Coach of the Year. Over this time, Brasky has developed numerous collegiate players including NJCAA and NCAA D3 All-Americans.
This year's Basketball Training Camp will also feature Pembroke Varsity Boys Coach Matt Shay, former D1 and overseas player Billy Truitt, and former Batavia standout Jalen Smith.
SESSION 1
Boys Grades 10th-12th & College
Monday & Wednesday 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. / Friday 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
SESSION 2
Boys Grades 7th-9th
Tuesday & Thursday 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. / Friday 9 to 11 a.m.
OFFENSIVE SKILL DEVELOPMENT INCLUDING:
WHY OUR CAMP?
Value – Campers receive 35 hours of basketball instruction.
Cost -- Compare our price of $350 to other camps, which can be over $500.
Repetition -- Your player will be receiving instruction and we'll be instilling them with positive habits over a five-week time period, not three or four days like most camps.
Some accomplishments by camp alumni:
Tom Redband, head coach of Elba's Lady Lancers, which is coming off its fifth straight championship season, announced today that he and his assistant, Marci Redband, also his wife, are stepping down from their coaching positions.
The announcement:
Marci and I would like to announce that we are stepping down from the position of Head Coach/Assistant Coach of the Elba girls basketball program. While this is a very difficult decision due to our love and passion for Elba basketball, we have put a lot of thought into it, and Marci and I know that personally and as a family it is time and the right decision.
Marci and I are so appreciative of the opportunity we were given to lead these wonderful young women. We will cherish these times forever and want to thank all of the supporters from the bottom of our hearts for the positivity and trust. In due time, I look forward to personally thank each one of you. The people we have met and grown relationships with never would have occurred without this opportunity to coach this awesome team, it’s been wonderful.
Marci and I are looking forward to being positive and supportive of the new coach and all the young Lady Lancers we have worked with and will miss dearly. We will be cheering each one of you on and will always be here for you. We will be continuing our basketball training camps, so we won’t be too far away.
When I was given the opportunity to teach business at Elba as my first full-time teaching job and to coach the Lady Lancers, I knew Elba was special, but I didn’t know Elba was next-level special. Well, I know now, and it’s one of a kind. It’s so special and the kids mean so much to us, that of all places, I chose a smelly locker room to propose to Marci. We hope we served the kids and community with class, it was certainly our pleasure. In closing, Marci and I are Lancers for life, and that makes us proud.
For Elba, the past two seasons ended in wins but also disappointments. With a team led by Byrnn Walczak, Taylor Augello, Maddie Muehlig, and Leah Bezon, the Lancers had legitimate chances in each of the past two seasons to win state championships. The team was deprived of that opportunity by a global pandemic. Those four players all graduate this year.
Elba has a long history of basketball success. Tom Redband replaced Tom Nowak, who over 26 seasons amassed 587 wins, 10 sectional titles, and in 2012 a State Championship.
A new head coach has not yet been named.
Photo: File photo of Tom Redband in 2013.
For the second straight season, Batavia High varsity girls’ basketball standouts Mackenzie Reigle and Bryn Wormley have earned Monroe County League Division 4 honors.
Reigle (18 points per game) became a two-time Division 4 Player of the Year while Wormley (17 ppg) was selected to the first all-league team for a second time. The senior guards each hit the 1,000-point mark this season en route to leading the Lady Blue Devils to a 10-5 record and an appearance in the Section V Class B1 tournament title game.
For their varsity careers, which began in the seventh grade, Reigle and Wormley scored 1,117 and 1,049 points, respectively, and are in a select group of BHS players to enter the 1,000 point club. Others are Tiara Filbert (1,574), Ryann Stefaniak (1,357) and Madison McCulley (1,015).
At Monday night’s team banquet at Batavia’s Original pizzeria, Coach Marty Hein said both girls were selected as Ronald McDonald House All-Stars, but the annual exhibition game will not be played this year due to COVID-19.
Photo: Bryn Wormley, left; Coach Marty Hein, and Mackenzie Reigle at the Batavia High varsity girls’ basketball banquet Monday night. Photo by Mike Pettinella.
Number 3 seed, at 10-2, Oakfield-Alabama knocked off #1 seed Cal-Mum, at 13-0, by a score of 55-50 to win Saturday's Class C2 Section V trophy at Cal-Mum.
Travis Wiedrich scored 20 points and Kaden Cusmano sunk a trio of three-pointers on his way to a 19-point game.
Photos by Kristin Smith. For more, click here, here, and here.
Notre Dame traveled to South Seneca today as the #2 seed in the Class D1 tournament, with two losses on its record, and proceeded to upset the unbeaten #1 seed 55-48 to win a Section V title.
The Lady Irish were once again lead by sophomore Amelia McCulley who scored 30 points. Lindsey Weidman scored 14 points. Emma Sisson had 12 rebounds, Maylee Green, 11, Weidman, nine, and McCulley, eight.
Submitted photo.
Five straight section titles are nice, Elba's players will tell you, but they also know there is a "what could have been" question that will forever remain unanswered.
If not for a coronavirus pandemic that wiped out the 2020 postseason and shortened 2021, ending the title push with a sectional championship, could the Lady Lancers have won one, maybe two state titles?
We will never know. But we do know Elba knocked off the #2 seed, Prattsburgh/Avoca, in a pretty convincing fashion -- a team that regularly won by scoring 60 points or more per game while going 9-1 on the season. The game was never really close. The Lancers won 66-27.
It's the fifth straight Section title for Elba under Head Coach Tom Redband.
On Saturday, Byrnn Walczak scored 22 points, Taylor Augello, 13, Maddie Muehlig, 12, and Leah Bezon, 9. Muehlig also had eight assists. Dakota Brinkman, who scored five points, had nine rebounds, Walczak, eight, and Augello, seven.
Walczak, Muehlig and Bezon have been part of all five title teams and Augello has been there for the last four. All four graduate this year.
Notre Dame won its Class D1 championship game, so with Elba winning class D2, in any other year, the two archrivals would faceoff in a division consolidation game to determine which team would represent Section V in a Far West Regional championship game. Not this year.
Photos by Debra Reilly.
Top-seeded Palmyra-Macedon held off the gutsy, determined and undersized Batavia Lady Blue Devils tonight to capture the Section V Class B1 girls’ basketball tournament crown on the Wayne County school’s home court.
Despite a decided height disadvantage, Head Coach Marty Hein’s team scrapped and clawed its way back from a double-digit deficit to pull within three points with 2 ½ minutes to play, but could get no closer – eventually falling by a 49-38 score.
The loss was Batavia’s second in as many years to Pal-Mac, which defeated the Lady Devils, 58-48, in the 2020 sectional quarterfinals.
It also marked the end of the Mackenzie Reigle and Bryn Wormley era (from right to left in photo above) that saw both star guards come up to the varsity as seventh-graders and, less than two weeks ago, saw both reach the 1,000-point mark for their careers.
As would be expected, both were inconsolable for several minutes after the final buzzer sounded.
“We had a great season. It didn’t end how we wanted it do; we came up short but I wouldn’t trade it for the world,” said Reigle, the team’s point guard who scored18 points against the Red Raiders’ strong man-to-man defense. “I love this team. It sucks coming up short but it was a fun season considering the circumstances.”
While the loss was disappointing in itself, Reigle said she is saddened by the fact that about nine years of bouncing the ball with Wormley have come to an end.
“There’s nothing I’ll miss more than playing with Bryn. We’ve been playing together since the third grade and I hope we’ll get a chance to play against each other in college,” she said.
Reigle will be attending Geneseo State College and Wormley has enrolled at St. John Fisher, and both intend to continue playing the sport they love.
Wormley, who scored 10 points tonight, including a three-point shot that sliced Pal-Mac’s lead to 39-36 with 3:27 to play, called it a “blessing that we were able to play together for so long.”
“That was something really special and I wouldn’t give it up for anything,” she said.
Hein said Reigle and Wormley set their bar high, giving it all to get to 1,000 points and then striving for a sectional title after watching, as seventh-graders, “two of the best players that Batavia has had in Tiara Filbert and Maddie McCulley when we won the sectional title in 2016.”
Calling it “heartbreaking that we’re coming home in second,” Hein said he appreciated how hard this team, which includes seven seniors, worked during this short season to reach the finals. Batavia, the No. 3 seed in the tournament, finishes with a 10-5 record.
“I watched everyone of these girls progress,” he said. “Tess (Barone) and Bella (Houseknecht) are two of the hardest working players in basketball. Haylee (Thornley) suffered through two ACL injuries and it took two years away from her basketball and to see how far she has come after that devastation. Kennedy (Kolb), we had for four years on varsity.”
Hein said he plans to return for an eighth season at the helm, but looks forward to a night or two with no games on the schedule to be able to watch Reigle and Wormley in collegiate action.
As far as tonight’s game, senior guard/forward Sophie Lyko scored 13 of her game-high 23 points in the first quarter as Pal-Mac took a 15-10 lead, and added four more points in the first four minutes of the second quarter to spark the home team to a 23-12 advantage.
Batavia rallied, however, as Reigle sank two three-pointers in the last minute to cut the deficit to 26-20 at halftime.
A 15-footer by Thornley and a driving layup by Reigle to start the third quarter made it 26-24, before the Red Raiders outscored Batavia 9-3 the rest of the way to stretch the lead to 35-27.
There was no quit in the visitors, however, as Reigle scored two baskets and Kolb swished an 18-footer to pull Batavia within two at 35-33 with 4:40 to play. Grace Seither and Lyko scored inside to make it 39-33 before Reigle hit from beyond the three-point line.
Pal-Mac’s Tatum Smyth got a friendly bounce off the front rim at 2:55 before Barone converted a pass from Reigle to make it 41-38 with 2:35 remaining.
Unfortunately for the Lady Devils, that was the end of their scoring as they missed five shots down the stretch. Pal-Mac controlled the boards – holding Batavia to one shot on each trip down the floor while grabbing three offensive rebounds that led to a layup by 6-foot-1 junior Ryley Trail and game-sealing free throws by seniors Seither and Lyko.
“Our lack of size kind of plagued us all season,” Hein said. “We help and we overcommit with the help and now on the weak side, we’re too far underneath the basket and we’re not taller than anybody so we’re losing that fight. We just give up those weak side rebounds and that hurt us a bunch.”
Wormley agreed that Pal-Mac’s length made a big difference.
“When you’ve got three girls at 6 foot or taller and we play small ball – we started all guards (with the tallest at 5-8) – sometimes against those big girls, there’s not much you can do about it,” she said. “We played well in spurts but against those big girls, you can box them out all you want but it’s tough.”
Pal-Mac Head Coach Dan Harris also mentioned that his girls asserted themselves on the boards and “that led to some offensive rebounds and second and third chances, and that obviously was the difference.”
He was quick to point out the Lady Devils’ tenacity in its pressing defense and the team's athleticism.
“Those kids are very well coached and they had a lot of returning players that, unfortunately, their careers are over, but they play so hard, so well. And they’re so athletic and they have great basketball skills, too, which is a dangerous combination,” he said.
Reigle had six assists and five rebounds to go with her 18 points while Wormley grabbed six rebounds and Thornley had four points and four rebounds.
Reigle on the fast break, ahead of Pal-Mac's Grace Seither (14) and Tatum Smyth (2) and teammate Bryn Wormley.
Wormley stretching out as she battles Pal-Mac forwards Sophie Lyko (21) and Ryley Trail (22).
Lyko and Batavia's Haylee Thornley jockey for position.
Head Coach Marty Hein draws up a play late in the game.
Bottom four photos by Steve Ognibene.
To view or purchase photos, click here.
Pavilion's undefeated season came to a disappointing end Friday night in the Class C2 Section V championship game as York took home the trophy with a 57-49 win.
The game was a battle with Pavilion taking an early lead, falling behind, and regaining the lead before the end of the second half. But the Lady Gophers lost that lead early in the second half and never regained it.
Karlee Zinkievich scored 17 points and Lauren Kingsley scored 16. Emily Kingsley scored six and Shea Amberger scored six.
The Batavia Blue Devils boys’ basketball team suffered a heartbreaking defeat tonight, losing 56-55 to Wayne in the championship game of the Section V Class B1 Tournament at the Batavia High School gymnasium.
Junior guard Mason Blankenberg’s 15-foot jumper from the left side of the foul line with 7.8 seconds to play erased Batavia’s one-point lead and lifted the Eagles to their third sectional title in the past five years.
Batavia had a chance to pull out a victory but Wayne successfully defended on a drive to the basket by Alex Hale, one of eight seniors on the Blue Devils’ roster, as the clock expired – igniting a wild celebration by the visitors and their fans, while dashing the hopes of the home team and its faithful.
Both teams came into the game with 14-0 records, with Wayne capturing the Finger Lakes East crown and Batavia cruising to the title in Monroe County Division 4.
Following Blankenberg’s clutch shot, Batavia inbounded the ball and quickly got it over the midcourt line to enable Head Coach Buddy Brasky to call a timeout with 4.3 seconds remaining.
Brasky said the play call was a “progression” that would hopefully give his team more than one option.
“We had a progression with Zach (Gilebarto) in the corner, Stone (Siverling) in the post and then Alex after he inbounds it, comes to get it and goes to the basket. That’s what we tried to do,” he said.
After throwing it in, Hale received a return pass from Faraz Idrees and drove into the lane with Wayne’s Eli Schichtel guarding him. As he crossed the foul line, he was sandwiched by Schichtel and Tyler Reynolds, and then stumbled to the floor – unable to get off a shot as the horn sounded.
Gilebarto and Siverling had been positioned on the right and left baseline, respectively, but the opportunity to get either of them the ball failed to materialize. Siverling was unable to break free from the double-teaming of Blankenberg and Devon Forrest, and Blankenberg then released to follow Gilebarto to the left side of the key.
Brasky said that Wayne’s height advantage with Blankenberg at 6-foot-3 and Forrest and Schichtel both at 6-2 was a deciding factor.
“Their size, in the end, got us,” he said. “They were able to put Blankenberg on Gilebarto and that bothered him some (Gilebarto was held to 18 points, five under his average). They put a 6-3 kid on him and it’s tough for him to shoot over him as he’s 5-11.”
When it was mentioned that everybody in the building was thinking that Gilebarto would take the final shot, Brasky said, “Well, they knew that, too, so I’ll have to watch the film to see if he was open, but you’ve got to figure they would deny him – which is why we had the other progressions.”
Wayne Coach Bill Thomson, who called Brasky “a coaching legend who runs an amazing program,” said he was shocked that neither Gilebarto nor Siverling touched the ball in the final seconds.
“Yes, I was very surprised. They put them both on the baseline and I didn’t know – I was shocked, shocked when I saw that,” Thomson said. “And I actually thought they traveled twice on that play at the end of the game.”
The game’s first 16 minutes was a tale of two contrasting halves as Batavia jumped out to an 18-6 lead en route to a 21-11 edge after the first quarter before Wayne roared back, outscoring the Blue Devils 19-10 to pull within one at intermission.
Senior Luke Rogers swished three three-point shots in the first quarter (and a fourth in the second period) while Siverling and Gilebarto added six apiece, before Blankenberg scored seven of his game-high 23 in the second quarter to spark the Eagles’ rally.
Reynolds erupted for 10 points, including a pair of deep three-pointers, to offset Siverling’s eight and Gilebarto’s six as the teams traded baskets in the third quarter. Batavia broke a 37-37 tie on a three-pointer by Gilebarto and layup by Siverling, before Wayne came back behind Reynolds and Blankenberg to take a 46-44 lead entering the fourth period.
Siverling, who led Batavia with 21 points, rebounded his own miss and scored with about six minutes left to put Batavia up 51-48, but Reynolds stole the ball and went in for an uncontested dunk to make it 51-50 at the 3:35 mark.
A spinning layup by Blankenberg put Wayne back on top but Siverling converted a pass from Gilebarto to put Batavia ahead, 53-52, with two minutes left. Wayne responded as Forrest hit a 17-footer at 1:35 before Gilebarto drove in for a basket with 25 seconds to play to give the Blue Devils a 55-54 lead.
Brasky credited Rogers for giving his team an early boost against Wayne’s 2-3 zone defense.
“He’s one of our shooters and I told him that when he was open, shoot it with no hesitation. He did and to his credit he made them and got us off to a good start,” he said.
The Eagles switched to a man-to-man defense and that, coupled with their hot outside shooting, got back in the game in the second quarter.
“We knew when we went on that early run that they would score and go on a run of their own. I wasn’t surprised that they would come back – they’re undefeated,” Brasky said.
A shortened season marked by COVID-19 restrictions that prevented many family members and fans from watching the Blue Devils has ended on a down note, but Brasky said he will remember it as one of his most satisfying.
“I love these kids,” he said. “I told them in the locker room that they made me love coaching again. We’ve had a couple of tough groups here in the last few years that were a little harder to coach, but these kids rekindled my love for coaching. They’re a great group of guys.
“The whole senior group was a committed group and they are a great, great group. And they will be successful in their lives because they understand about hard work, dedication and sacrificing for the good of the team. They understand all of that, and that is what is going to take them on in life in whatever they choose to do.”
To view or purchase photos, click here.
Photos by Steve Ognibene.
Photos: The photo at top tells the story as the Batavia Blue Devils' sit dejectedly on their bench moments after losing by one point to Wayne. Other photos: Zach Gilebarto (21) and Stone Siverling (24) score inside, Alex Hale and Wayne's Eli Schichtel (1) battle on the boards, and Wayne's Mason Blankenberg makes a move around Gilebarto toward the hoop.
A gas leak reported earlier today at Pavilion High School has been dealt with by RG&E and tonight's championship game between the Lady Gophers and York will start at 7 p.m. as scheduled.
If you just looked at the score (67-50), you would think the Lady Irish had a pretty easy time of it against C.G. Finney in their Class C2 Section V semifinal game played at Notre Dame.
If you took that view, you would be mistaken. The Falcons are a small, fast, aggressive, scrappy team led by a diminutive sophomore (her height isn't listed on the roster), Jahniya Johnson, who is as dangerous outside the arc as she is driving the lane and tossing up one of her stock-in-trade floaters.
Johnson scored 35 points. But with no other Falcon presenting much of a scoring threat, Johnson couldn't carry the team alone, especially against one led its own young stars, such as Amelia McCulley and Lindsey Weidman.
McCulley, herself just a sophomore, was also hard to stop and she scored 29 points. Weidman scored 16. Sarah McGinnis scored nine and Judah Macdonald added seven.
Maylee Green led the Irish with 16 rebounds. Weidman and Emma Sisson, who also scored six points, had 12 apiece.
The D1 championship will be decided Saturday at 7 p.m. in South Seneca. South Seneca is 13-0 and #1 seed in the division. Notre Dame is the #2 seed.
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