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HS highlights for Thursday

By Brian Hillabush

Tim Smith poured in 16 points as the Oakfield-Alabama boys basketball team escaped Holland 60-51 in the opening round of the Barker Tournament Thursday.

Point guard Brad Riner scored nine points with six assists and five steals and Noah Seward added seven points with 11 rebounds.

O-A (1-0) will face tournament host Barker tonight in the finals as the Raiders downed Lyndonville 57-47. Ray Paul scored 21 points for Barker. 

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Tyler Sass dropped in 20 points as the Byron-Bergen boys basketball team on its opener 56-45 over visiting Warsaw.

Trevor Laurie had 12 points and eight boards and Kurtis Fannon pitched in nine points.

Travis White scored 20 points and Ricky Ryan grabbed 11 boards for the Tigers (0-3).

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Jaycee Shirk owned the paint as the Batavia girls basketball team shut down Albion 39-29 in the opening round of the Elba Tournament at GCC.

Shirt had six blocks and 10 rebounds to go with her eight points for the Blue Devils (3-0).

Brittany Mazurkiewicz had 13 points with six steals and Brittany Wormley pitched in seven points.

Paige Golden had 14 points for the Purple Eagles (0-1).

Elba thrashed Attica 56-23 in the other first round game, meaning Batavia will battle Elba in Saturday night's finals.

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Attica won a pair of wrestling matches on Wednesday. Those results weren't posted on Armdrag.com until today.

The Blue Devils beat Byron-Bergen 47-15 and Lyndonville 48-19.

 

Attica begins life without Wolfley

By Brian Hillabush

 For the past three years, Derek Wolfley has been one of the top players in the Genesee Region League and a big reason why the Attica basketball team has had success. 

But now Attica's best player ever is at Iona, where he is playing Division I basketball. He was the school's all-time leading scorer with 1,474 points and had 932 career rebounds.

Life without Wolfley begins this season for the Blue Devils.

While it is no easy task to replace a legend, Attica now has a chance to develop a new identity around some very talented players that aren't in one players shadow anymore.

The most talented of those players is junior guard Tate Westermeier. The 6-foot, 155-pound shooting guard has a natural ability to score and is going to be the focus of the Attica offense.

Westermeier plays basketball year-round and was productive as a sophomore last year, on Attica's 15-6 squad. He even scored 16 points in the season-ending 62-52 loss to Freddie Thomas in the sectional quarterfinals.

While Westermeier is going to be responsible for a lot of the scoring, senior Shawn Dupuis will also be a top option.
 

Wolfley is the biggest name Attica lost from last year, but Dustin Keicher was a solid point guard and the Blue Devils will be filling that role with a pair of sophomores.

Brad Clark looks like the top option to run the point and led the team in scoring during Wednesday's loss to Midlakes. Classmate Zach Fleiss is also going to be running the point.

Even though Attica lost the 6-foot-6 Wolfley, there is still plenty of size in the paint.

Senior Matt Sheffield is 6-foot-5 and Bryan Thompson is 6-foot-2, with both expecting to see a lot of playing time.

The other big man has a familiar name - Craig Wolfley. He is the younger brother of Derek, but is a different type of player.

Derek could pull up and hit jumpers from anywhere with his trim and athletic frame. Craig - a junior - is 6-foot-4 and weighs 242 pounds. He handles the ball well for a big man and is a decent scorer, but doesn't have Derek's scoring ability. Any forward for Attica will have a lot to live up to, but when you share a last name with the school's best player of all time, it can be that much more pressure.

Attica has a long history of sectional playoff failures in the "big 3", but the football team won a quarterfinal game this past fall and the basketball team took notice. They will be trying to win the GR Division I title, and then make some history of their own come playoff time.

 

Elba boys looking to keep momentum from sectional run

By Brian Hillabush

 When the Elba basketball team walked off the court in the Section 5 Class DD semifinals last year, it was after an amazing 12-point comeback victory over rival Notre Dame. It was a huge upset.

The Lancers then lost to Fillmore 53-43 in the finals, but are hoping to carry over the momentum from that sectional run to this season.

Juniors Phil Ostroski and Sonny Guiliano were major factors in that run and both return to lead a physically strong Elba squad into the 2008-2009 season.

Ostroski was a huge player on the squad last season when he had to fill in for a team that had suspension issues early on, and he was a unique talent - a big body that could step outside and shoot the 3 at any time.

The 6-foot-1, 210-pound forward will be the go-to guy for the Lancers and could very well be one of the top scorers in the league this season.

Guiliano is going to run the point this season after seeing good minutes a year ago. He's also big, at 6-foot-1, 210 pounds, and has the ability to put the ball in the basket as well. He will mix scoring with a pass-first attitude (he nearly had a triple-double in Elba's 54-33 win over Barker in the season opener).

Both players have the ability to star each and every night out.

But that isn't all the Lancers bring to the table.

Forwards Max Torrey and Theo Tomczak and guard Adam Shuknecht all received quality playing time last season and will add depth to the squad.

Elba also has a couple of new editions that will help out.

Senior Cody Torpey did not play basketball last season, but returns to the court and brings a lot of speed to the squad. He isn't expected to do a lot of scoring, but will do the things that don't show up in the boxscore.

The other name to watch is sophomore Crosby Lamont, who is called up to the varsity squad because of his potential. He will come off the bench and provide a spark for coach Rick Pcionek.

Elba's record was just 13-11 last year, and the team lost stars Ian Woodworth, Rocco Zambito and Casey Hoover to graduation, but should be able to challenge some of the elite teams in the Genesee Region League this season because of a physical style of play that will frustrate teams that lack size.

 

HS highlights for Wednesday

By Brian Hillabush

This year's Batavia wrestling team has the potential to be one of the best the school has ever had, and the season started off on a very positive note Wednesday.

The Blue Devils beat Victor 35-28 as Batavia had two pins and another tech fall win.

Ryan Darch had a huge pin fall victory at 160 pounds, beating Nick Payne in 1:40. Trey Henderson had the other Batavia pin as he dropped Dakota LaRue in 5:16 at 130 pounds.

Joe Muoio had the tech fall victory at 135 pounds, taking care of Matt Acquilano 17-0.

You can see the rest of the results here.

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After dropping its season opener, the Pembroke boys basketball team has gotten hot, winning the next two games.

The Dragons thumped visiting Holley Wednesday night 53-34 as Ken Babcock scored 14 points and pulled down 15 boards to lead the way.

Andrew Wright scored a game-high 16 points with Matt Phelps pitching in nine.

Holley lost its season opener and was led by Jeff Lutes, who scored 10 points. Brian Mitchell added nine. 

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No player scored in double figures for Attica as the Blue Devils lost a road game at Midlakes 54-34.

Brad Clark had nine points with Tate Westermeier and Craig Wolfley adding eight apiece.

Derek Reafsnyder had 15 points to pace Midlakes (1-0).

Attica falls to 1-2.

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A total of five Holley wrestlers pinned Alexander grapplers as the Hawks scored an easy 61-17 win.

Defending state champion Quenton Murphy led the way with a :58 pin over Brandon Toporczyk at 125 pounds.

Tim Banks, Dillon Murphy, Kyle Steadman and Sean Baylor had the other pins for the Hawks, who improve to 1-0 while the Trojans dip to 0-2.

 

Hoy's Geneseo basketball team gets ESPN's top play

By Brian Hillabush

 Batavia grad Mike Hoy is a freshman on the Geneseo men's basketball team, and he witnessed an amazing shot last night by one of his teammates.

Scott Morton hit a crazy shot with 1/10 of a second left to go to give Geneseo the 85-84 win over Oswego State. Hoy was held scoreless in 15 minutes of play, but did hand out two assists.

The shot earned the top spot on ESPN's top plays today. 

You just have to see the video on this one (followed by an interview with Morton).

 

 

Elba girls at full strength, looking to dominate

By Brian Hillabush

 The Elba girls basketball team had an off year last season, losing seven games and only making it to the sectional semifinals.

But the Lancers beat rival Notre Dame to make those finals, and return a lot of players from that squad in addition to some new faces that make this one of the most athletic and deep Elba teams in years.

Seniors Katie Newton and Julie Webster and juniors Julie Marshall and Chelsie Pangrazio all have varsity experience and will all get plenty of playing time as coach Tom Nowak intends on pressing hard and playing everybody on the roster.

But possibly the two biggest names on Elba's roster heading into the season were not on the team last year.

Senior guard Sarah Schwartzmeyer was a star on varsity as a sophomore, with the ability to score, rebound, pass and play defense. But she took a year away from the game to work on her softball skills. She is one of the top pitchers in Section 5.

She returns and immediately steps into a leadership role. She will be relied upon to score and maintain the flow of the game.

The other different face is Missy Call.

Call is a junior this year, but got a ton of experience playing on the Oakfield-Alabama varsity team last season. She can shoot the ball, play defense and is a good distributor of the ball.

There are a few youngsters up on the varsity squad that will also make an impact. Sophomore guard Cassy Engle, freshman Meg Stucko and eighth-grader McKenzie Bezon should all provide sparks this season.

Both Notre Dame and Elba had off years last season, but both are back up this year, and the Dec. 16 and Feb 10 games are highly anticipated games on the GR schedule.

Alexander girls should be strong

By Brian Hillabush

 The Alexander girls basketball team returns four starters, have a foreign exchange student with some talent and are expected to make a run at a Genesee Region League title.

The Trojans went 9-12 last season, and were upset by Gananda in the opening round of the sectional tournament last season. 

Two of the stars in that game - Anna Dominick and Katie Kochmanski - are returning with fellow starters Rachel Pettys and Chelsea Turcer.

Dominick scored nine points per game with three steals and Pettys averaged eight points with seven rebounds. Turcer had five points and three dimes per game.

Pettys and Kochmanski were stars in the paint as Kochmanski pulled down a team-high nine rebounds to go with her seven points per game.

Rebounding is a huge part of coach Marcia Hirsch's coaching philosophy. She preaches rebounding first and foremost, with the belief that if you win the battle on the boards, you are probably going to win the game.

Even with those four returning players, you would expect the Trojans to have a pretty strong team. But they got a nice surprise when the season started.

Foreign exchange student Anni Lehtola from Finland, has a ton of game. The 5-foot-9 guard/forward is a strong rebounder, scorer and defender; which adds a huge boost to an already stacked team.

Alexander has already shown signs of what they can do.

In the opening round of the Attica Tournament last weekend, the Trojans were beating Class A Batavia before the Blue Devils came back late in the game and won 57-48. Alexander then went on to beat Attica 44-32 in the consolation game.

While Division I should be tough this year, Alexander might very well have the pieces in place to be the top dog in that division. 

HS highlights for Tuesday

By Brian Hillabush

The Elba boys basketball team is 1-0 after an easy 54-33 win over Barker Tuesday night.

The Lancers were led by senior forward Phil Ostroski, who had a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds. Sonny Giuliano pitched in nine points with 10 boards and nine assists and Cole Bronson and Sam Lamont each helping out with eight points.

 Greg Brown led Barker (0-1) with 13 points.

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Josh Laureano dropped in 21 points but it wasn't enough for his Kendall team, which lost to Northstar in the season opener, 68-58.

Mark Driesel was also in double figures with 10 points.

Donald Harris had 22 points and Manny Mederois added 20 for Northstar, which improves to 3-0.

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Erik Pokornowski scored twice and handed out two assists in leading the Batavia Hockey team to a 5-1 win over Churchville-Chili.

Josh Marr scored his first two varsity goals for the Blue Devils, with Patt Finnell getting a goal with an assist and Corey Kocent and Tim Finnell adding two helpers each.

Brandon Corcoran made 20 saves for Batavia (1-1).

 

Alexander boys program no joke, looking to become more competitive

By Brian Hillabush

It wasn't too long ago that the Alexander boys basketball team was one of the worst programs in all of Section 5, even going 0-20 one year.

But coach Wayne Hanley has done a nice job building the program in recent years and the Trojans went 9-10 two years ago - sharing the Division I title - and finished 8-13 last season. Now Hanley's squad is looking to take that next step and become an above .500 squad that can compete for league and sectional titles every year.

The 2008-2009 Trojans have the potential to be the team that can start competing with the best league teams night in and night out.

The reason Alexander can look for bigger things this year is a strong group of returners, along with a pair of talented sophomores playing on the varsity squad.

It has been a long time since Alexander won a sectional game and last year's was able to hang with Caledonia-Mumford in the first round last year, but wound up losing 66-52. Kyle Woodruff was the second-leading scorer last season and returns as the go-to guy this year.

The GR honorable mention all-star of a year ago can shoot the 3 and was a nice compliment to Josh Bender, who was the top scoring option. He now becomes the guy expected to lead the team in scoring on most nights.

Seniors Andy Bittner, Mike Galletti, Tyler Sheeler , Matt Zaso and Jordan Leitten were all contributers last season as well, giving the Trojans six seniors to lead the team.

Junior guard Stephen George also saw action last season.

But the biggest impact on the team could be the youngsters, a pair of sophomores that are starting the season on the varsity squad.

Guard/forward Troy Shelnut might be one name you've heard already. The 6-foot-2 scorer poured in 18 points in his varsity debut, a 72-70 loss to Geneseo in the opening round of the Alexander Tournament last Friday (George and Bittner were also in double figures in that game). Shelnut followed that up with a team-high five points in a 71-25 loss to Livonia in the consolation game.

The other sophomore is guard Jared Quinn, who also scored five points to lead the Trojans in the second game.

While the Trojans aren't expecting to be a dominant team in the league this season, there is no reason why the team can't contend for a league title and try and win a playoff game or two.

 

 

 

 

Saunders is Fredonia Athlete of the Week

By Brian Hillabush

 Batavia grad Kevin Saunders is the male Athlete of the Week at Fredonia State after a huge game against D'Youville.

The junior guard poured in 14 points with five rebounds in a 66-44 win over D'Youville. He also hit 4-of-7 3-point attempts and dished out two assists.

Fredonia held former Oakfield-Alabama star James Davis - a freshman at D'Youville - scoreless in that game. Davis did have a block, a rebound and an assist in the contest.

The Blue Devils are 5-1 after beating Pitt-Bradford 84-79 last night.

Notre Dame is young, but loaded

By Brian Hillabush

 When you look at the Notre Dame roster, the name Kevin Francis easily stands out.

The senior point guard has been one of the top players in the Genesee Region League over the last two seasons and was a GR all-star last year, pouring in 16.5 points with 5.8 rebounds, 6.2 assists and 5.1 steals per game. He dropped in 18 3-pointers.

There is no question that he is going to be the leader on the off the floor.

He had an established, solid supporting cast last season as the Fighting Irish, and the squad went 18-5 and earned the top seed in the Section 5 Class DD playoffs. ND ran into Elba in the semifinals and the Lancers came from 12 points back and sprung a 64-58 upset.

But gone are the likes of Christian Bochicchio, Joe Pawlak, Pat Mancuso and Mark Fanton. Instead, a strong group of youngsters will be taking the court to support Francis and try and get ND a sectional title.

There aren't a lot of returning scorers and you can expect junior Matt Thompson and sophomore Vinny Zambito to be major factors on the offensive end. Thompson is a pure shooter and Zambito is a scoring machine that led the jayvee squad a year ago.

Senior guard Kevin Schildwaster will also look to score. Backing up Francis will be junior Nick Bochicchio, who played quarterback on the football team and has the ability to lead things on the court when Francis needs a rest.

While Fanton was a true big-man for the Fighting Irish last year, standing 6-foot-6 and weighing 215 pounds, Notre Dame doesn't have anybody that can match his size.

But they might even be more physical in the paint.

Tommy Rapone is 6-foot-2, 225 pounds and very athletic for a big man. The junior will get a lot of playing time and try to keep a good group of big men in the GR out of the paint. His main focus will be defense and rebounding, but he also has the potential to score points when needed,

Senior Rick Lair is also 6-2 and weighs 185 pounds, but is a strong player that was a solid player on the football team. Senior Nick Weatherwax is the biggest player on the squad at 6-3 and is also physical.

A lot was made out of coach Mike Rapone's 500th victory last season, rightfully so, but this group doesn't have the pressure of trying to win that game for the legendary coach. 

Rapone became just the third coach in Section 5 history to get to the 500 win plateau (Jim Burke of Prattsburgh won No. 500 in the season opener this year) when Notre Dame beat Kendall midway through the season.

His current record is 509-133 and he is chasing Ed Nietopski of Bishop Kearney and Cardinal Mooney, who is the all-time leader with 545 victories. He has an outside chance of catching Scio legend Roger Bigby this season, as he ended his career with 527 wins.

In 29 years, Rapone has won 26 division titles, seven Section 5 titles, four Far West Regional championships and two state titles, with the last coming in 2001.

Rapone usually gets the most out of what he has, and this year's version of the Fighting Irish have a lot of talent. It is only a matter of getting the young players to mesh with the veterans and contribute with scoring.

 

HS highlights for Monday

By Brian Hillabush

It was a light night in area high school athletics, with only Kendall girls basketball playing in the Genesee Region League.

The Eagles hosted Medina and thumped them 45-25.

Meghan Fahy led Kendall with 12 points and seven rebounds with Samantha D'Agostino adding 10 points in Kendall's opener.

Brittani Reis also had seven points with six swipes and Lorna Brooks pitched in six points.

Kelly Pritchard had 10 points for the Mustangs, who fall to 0-1.

Chmielowiec is tourney MVP as UofR wins

By Brian Hillabush

Batavia grad Mike Chmielowiec had some key baskets and earned tournament MVP honors as  University of Rochester beat Lycoming College 63-59 in the finals of the UR/Holiday Inn Airport Invitational Sunday night.

Chmielowiec hit two free throws and a layup to turn a 1-point lead into a 5-point lead with just less than four minutes left in the game.

He ended up scoring 16 points with eight rebounds to lead Rochester, which improves to 4-1.

It is the second tournament of the season for the Yellowjackets, who lost to Ithaca in the finals of the Chuck Resler Tournament. Chmielowiec - a senior - made the all-tournament team in that one.

Chmielowiec is leading UofR in scoring at 21 points per game and rebounding with 6.4 boards per game.

HS highlights for Saturday

By Brian Hillabush

 The Notre Dame hockey team had both offense and solid goalkeeping to start the season off with a 5-1 win over Bishop Kearney/Eastridge.

Ivan Madaferi, Jason Harasimowicz and Dylan Versage had a goal and an assist each with Jack Nenni and Sean Kota adding a gal apiece.

Thomas Dehr had 15 saves in net.

Riley Austin had the lone goal for the Kings (0-2).

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The Pembroke boys basketball team evened up at 1-1 in getting a huge performance by Andy Gabbey.

The guard drained nine 3-pointers to score a game-high 32 points as the Dragons thumped Williamson 64-46.

Andrew Wright scored 13 points and Ken Babcock pitched in 11.

Caleb Burlee scored 20 points for Williamson (0-2).

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The Blue Devils trailed by 18 points at one point, but cut the deficit to six points with just over a minute left and went on to beat Warsaw 54-46 in the consolation game of the Warsaw Tournament.

Tate Westermeier had 15 points and Matt Sheffield added 11 for Attica (1-1)..

Holden Case had 14 points and seven boards for Warsaw (0-2).

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Livonia jumped out to a 34-10 halftime lead and rolled to a 71-25 thumping of Alexander in the consolation game of the Alexander tournament.

Ryan Metz outscored the Trojans on his own, pouring in 14 of his game-high 26 points in the first half for Livonia (1-1).

Jared Quinn and Troy Shelnut had five points apiece for the Trojans (0-2).

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Wheatland-Chili won all four quarters, including a 20-4 run in the third quarter en route to a 65-36 victory over West Seneca in the consolation game of the Northstar Tournament.

Ricky Agosto (14 points), Andy Lund (13), Garhett Varin (12) and Evan Price (11) were all in double figures for the Wildcats, who improve to 1-1. Lund had 11 rebounds and Agosto added six.

Dylan Patterson had 17 points for West Seneca, out of Section 6.

Batavia wins Attica tip-off tournament

By Brian Hillabush

 No team plays perfect basketball at the start of the season.

The Batavia girls definitely were not at their best Saturday night in the finals of the Attica Tip-off Tournament, but overcame some issues in the paint and defeated Dansville 59-49 to capture the championship.

The Blue Devils opened up a seven point lead in the first quarter as Brittany Mazurkiewicz had the hot hand. The senior guard scored 11 of her team-high 19 points in the opening frame, giving Batavia an 18-11 advantage.

But Dansville came back and trailed just 24-20 at the half because of a solid effort in the paint. Batavia struggled to hit layups and gave the Mustangs too many second-chance points in the period.

Margaret Infantino's 3-pointer in the closing moments brought her team to within four points going into the break.

After Infantino dropped in another trifecta early on in the second half, Dansville took a 25-24 lead on a Ryan Doerr bucket. Infantino hit another 3-pointer after Michelle Jordan scored for Batavia and Dansville had a 28-26 lead, the team's biggest of the game.

Infantino scored seven of her game-high 20 points in the third quarter and the Mustangs led 36-35 after three periods of play.

Kristen Klein scored three points near the end of the third quarter and took over early in the fourth. The 5-foot-9 junior was one of several Batavia players looking to be a strong option at forward, next to Jaycee Shirk, and she very well could be.

Klein had several fourth quarter rebounds and scored her other four points in the fourth, with the second basket putting Batavia up 45-36. In all, Batavia scored the first 10 points of the final period.

Dansville cut the deficit to four points with just over 3 minutes left, but Mazurkiewicz hit a free throw, Stacy Hein ht a pair and Shirk scored to make it 50-41 with less than two minutes to play.

Hein hit 8-of-8 foul shots in the last minute and finished with 13 points.

Mazurkiewicz won the tournament MVP as she finished with 19 points, five assists and four steals. Shirk made the all-tournament team with eight points and four blocks and Jordan pitched in six points.

Infantino made the all-tournament team with 20 points and was joined by Ashley Amidon, who scored eight points.

Dansville falls to 1-1 while Batavia and new coach Bill Wade improve to 2-0 and bring home the championship trophy.

Alexander's Rachel Pettys made the all-tournament team as her Trojans beat rival Attica 44-32 in the consolation game. She scored 11 points with 13 steals and seven boards. Anna Dominick poured in 15 points with Kate Kochmanski grabbing 13 boards to go with her five points.

Attica's Christina West had 10 points and made the all-tournament squad.

The Blue Devils fall to 0-2 while Alexander improves to 1-1.

 

Oakfield-Alabama girls looking to stay at top

By Brian Hillabush

 The Oakfield-Alabama girls basketball team only lost two games last season. Unfortunately, the second came in the Section 5 Class CCC semifinals, where Honeoye had a 10-2 advantage in the fourth quarter to knock off the Hornets 39-29.

Three Genesee Region League all-stars graduated from that team, but three players that had significant playing time return and step into leadership roles as O-A looks to repeat as the Division I champions. The team had a 20-2 record last year.

Senior guard Hillary Bates is the top returning scorer at 4.5 points per game and will probably be the top scoring option. She will be a score-first point guard after earning GR honorable mention status last in 2007-2008.

The other senior on the team is Dani Sage, who scored four points per game last year and will play small forward.

Junior Lindsay Chatt also scored about four points per game and will start at guard as well. 

Sam Kidder was the leading scorer for the Hornets last season at 13.3 points per game and the three aforementioned players will be looking to take much of the scoring responsibility.

Junior guard Brynn Perfitt was called up at the end of the season and had success putting the ball in the basket, and could also be somebody that handles the scoring duties.

Jeff Schlagenhauf - last year's Coach of the Year - has a team that looks very different than a year ago. The Hornets didn't have a single player over 5-foot-9 last season, but have a bunch of size this year and could look to pound the ball into the paint.

Sarah Scarborough is over 6-foot tall and Christina Palillo also has size, so O-A will be able to play a more physical style of play this season.

Schlagenhauf believes this year's squad has as much potential as last year's, but might take a little time to play together before reaching its full potential.

HS highlights for Friday

By Brian Hillabush

The Batavia girls basketball team is already feeling the impact of hiring Bill Wade.

The Blue Devils were down 22-14 at halftime, but went on a 12-0 run in the third quarter and went on to beat Alexander 57-48 in the opening round of the Attica Tournament Friday.

Brittany Mazurkiewicz scored all 16 of her points in the second half and Jaycee Shirk pitched in 19 points with 10 rebounds, five steals and three blocks. Mazurkiewicz also dished out five dimes and had six steals.

Brittany Wormley and Kristen Klein added six points apiece for the Blue Devils (1-0), who will play Dansville in the finals.

Anna Dominick had 16 points to pace the Trojans (0-1), with Chelsea Turcer adding 11 points and Rachel Pettys finishing with 10.

The Mustangs (1-0) advance to play Batavia after thumping host Attica 55-25.

Ashley Amidon led the way with 17 points, with Margaret Infantino pitching in 14.

Jackie Algiers scored seven points to lead the Blue Devils (0-1).

The finals are at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.

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The Pembroke boys opened up with a non-leaguer against host Penn Yan and fell short, losing 57-54.

The Dragons got big games from stars Ken Babcock and Andrew Wright, but not much else. Wright had 23 points with seven boards and Babcock poured in 21 points with nine rebounds, but the only other players to score were Kyle Stocking (7 points) and Andy Gabbey (3).

James Wilson led Penn Yan (1-0) with 18 points and 13 boards.

Pembroke starts off 0-1.

Jim Burke joins the 500 club

By Brian Hillabush

Prattsburgh coaching legend Jim Burke knew victory No. 500 was going to come at a point, probably sooner than later.

His Viking squad overcame a tough Whitesville squad and got their coach that historic win with a 57-48 victory Friday night in the opening round of the Honeoye Holiday Classic.

"One reason why we are happy is that it puts us in the championship game tomorrow," said Burke, who now has a career record of 500-155. That was in the front of our minds. It was awesome because there were so many people here from Prattsburgh and there was a (celebration) afterwards. It was pretty awesome."

Whitesville only has eight players on the roster, but gave Prattsburgh everything they could handle, and the Vikings needed a big third quarter run to pull out the victory.

Burke and his team ended last season with a loss to Northstar Christian in the Class D finals, leaving him one win short of the milestone.

"What bothered us most last year was losing, not, not getting 500," said Burke, who is good friends with Notre Dame coach Mike Rapone, and even beat him when Rapone was at win No. 499 last season. "If you come back, you know you will win one more. It was tough for the kids with the great work ethic last year that didn't get a patch. That was the worst part of it."

When you have 500 wins, you have a lot of career highlights. Burke lists his top highlight as the 1991 season, when the Vikings went 29-0 and won the state title.

Prattsburgh will be playing Honeoye in tomorrow's championship game. Honeoye beat Genesee Valley 52-50 in the opening round.

"The weight is gone, especially for the kids" Burke said. "They had a card made up and everything before the game, so you know it was on their minds. It wasn't just the kids, but the community. They feel it and were talking about it. I'm so glad to get it off our shoulders so we can just go play."

Burke is not ready to commit to another year after this one, but if this is it would go out as one of the top coaches in Section 5 history.

"I will probably have some thinking to do over the summer," Burke said. "But it is getting close to the end. I'll know at the end of the season. There are a lot of factors involved."

3 GR teams in tournaments this weekend

By Brian Hillabush

 Three Genesee Region League teams will tip-off the high school boys basketball season Friday night in tournament play.

Alexander is hosting a tournament and will be playing Geneseo at 7 p.m. Wellsville and Livonia are the other two squads in the tourney and are scheduled to play at 3 p.m.

The winners will be in the finals on Saturday.

Wheatland-Chili is in the Northstar Tournament and Attica will be in the Warsaw Tournament.

 

Friday night could be historic for Burke

By Brian Hillabush

The boys basketball season will be getting started this weekend and opening day could be a historic one for one of Notre Dame's Section 5 rivals.

Prattsburgh will be playing Whitesville and coach Jim Burke could join Notre Dame coach Mike Rapone in the 500 win club if the Vikings pick up a victory.

The game is scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m. and you won't even have to leave the house to keep up with potential history. The game will be broadcast on WABH 1380 AM and locally it can be heard on the net at www.localsportsedge.com.

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