Notre Dame

Notre Dame High School conferred diplomas on 41 students yesterday in a ceremony at Genesee Community College. 

Tyler Reese (above) was valedictorian and received several senior awards, including Man of the Year.

For the first time since 1983, the award for Woman of the Year went to two students, Hannah Bowen and Lyndsey Rowland (photo below).

The Top 10 students of Notre Dame High School were honored Thursday at the weekly luncheon of the Batavia Kiwanis Club.

Pictured are: Mckenzie Lynn Haller (first row, left), Hannah Bowen, Kyra Stella, Caleb Wolcott, Jordan Weatherwax, Kiwanis President Jocelyn Sikorski, Julia Streeter (back row, left), Theodora Bochicchio, Tyler Reese, Jacob Weatherwax, Erin Phillips, and Christopher Lemley.

Press release:

On Wednesday, March 29th, Notre Dame High School will hold informational meetings to gauge community interest as they consider the addition of Boys Lacrosse and Girls Ice Hockey to their sports offerings.  

The Girls Ice Hockey meeting will be held at 6 p.m. followed by the Boys Lacrosse meeting at 7 p.m. 

Contact Mike Rapone or Wade Bianco at 343-2783 more information.

Press release:

Notre Dame High School is proud to announce that three members of its hockey team as well as Coach Marc Staley have been selected to participate in the prestigious Scotty Bowman Cup to be held on Wednesday, March 22nd at KeyBank Center.

Cameron Clark and Ryan Webster have been selected to play on the Rochester Senior Team and Ethan Conrad has been selected to play on the Rochester Junior Team. Coach Staley has been selected as the Rochester Senior Team Coach.

The Scotty Bowman Cup is hosted by the Buffalo Sabres and honors the best high school aged hockey players across Buffalo and Rochester. Three games will be held that evening beginning at 5 p.m. Admission for the event is $5 per person.

Congratulations Cameron, Ryan, Ethan and Coach Staley! We are proud of your accomplishments and can’t wait to cheer you on!

Too many missed shots and too many turnovers made it hard for Notre Dame to keep up with Panama yesterday at Buffalo State College in the Far West Regional championship for Class D girls basketball.

Notre Dame lost 49-40.

Callie McCulley scored 13 points, Margaret Sutherland, eight; Morgan Rhodes and Natalie Thornton had six each.

Whether through fatigue, Notre Dame's defense or just that's the way the ball bounces, a dearth of scoring in the fourth quarter last night cost the Elba Lady Lancers a chance to advance to the regional championship round of post-season basketball.

The Lady Irish prevailed in the Class D consolidation game between the two Section V champions. The final, 44-31.

Elba had a first half lead after scoring 15 points in the second quarter, going into the locker rooms up 19-18, were down by only two points, but a four-point fourth quarter for Elba enabled Notre Dame to pull away and secure the win.

Head Coach Tom Redband said his girls struggled with free throws and layups in the second half and fell out of rhythm.

"I don’t think it was adjustments they made," Redband said. "We just missed free throws and some layups that normally we make and that’s basketball. Sometimes they fall, some times they don’t. It just kind of caught up to us."

Tom McCulley, head coach of Notre Dame, said he thought Elba trying to guard a couple of his bigger players, such as Callie McCulley and Margaret Sutherland, took a toll on Elba.

"Eventually our size and strength just wore them down to where we could get the ball to where we wanted to and make our shots down the stretch," McCulley said.

He said he was exceptionally proud of his team.

"All season long I’ve been telling the girls, 'we just have to do what we do,' " McCulley said. "We are going to have nights where we can’t find the basket and nights where we’re a little sluggish but if we stay to who we are, we just don’t press and try to relax, these girls are good enough to where eventually it’s going to happen for them.

"That’s what you’ve seen in the second half of the season. We’ve figured out what works and doesn’t work and these girls are playing phenomenally well together and it’s nice to watch."

For Notre Dame, Sutherland scored 16 points, McCulley, 13, Morgan Rhodes, 9.

For Elba, Maddie Muehlig scored seven, as did Nicole Boldt. Tatum Draper scored six and Madison Howard scored five.

Notre Dame plays for the Far West Regional Championship in Class D at 3 p.m., Saturday, at Buffalo State.

Top three photos by Destin Danser. For more photos of the game and a chance to purchase game photos, click here. Bottom photo by Howard Owens.

Man, the last 12 minutes of basketball played in Letchworth last night were tense.

With about four minutes left in regulation, the Lady Irish of Notre Dame looked like they had the game well in hand. A double-digit lead and good command of the game over the previous three-and-a-half quarters. Then the wheels sort of came off.

Turnovers, mental errors, penalties -- York managed to tie the game by the end of the fourth quarter.

That meant overtime. 

And at the end of overtime, the two teams fighting for the Class D1 Section V championship were tied again.

"I'm proud of the heart that they showed, not just tonight, but along this whole run," said Head Coach Tom McCulley said. "I’m amazed at the effort they put out."

Finally, at the end of the second OT, there was a final score. Notre Dame beat York 64-59.

McCulley is in his first season as head coach of the Lady Irish, replacing Dave Pero, who led Notre Dame to Section V titles and a state championship. McCulley said getting this far in his first season has been "surreal," but gave all the credit to the girls.

"These girls have been motivated and worked hard in practice and we had a tough schedule that really challenged us," McCulley said. "These girls have been battle tested since the middle of December. That’s why they were able to keep their cool and pull out the victory."

During regulation play, you could sort of watch things unravel slowly. Not only did Notre Dame lose the lead, in the second overtime, Notre Dame found themselves down by a point with less than two minutes to play.

"That can demoralize some teams," McCulley said. "Our team, we’re not built that way. They showed character and they fought through.

"We were gassed," McCulley added. "Both teams were gassed. It was a full-court, man-to-man the whole way. It was like a prize fight. At some point, somebody’s going to give. They got into foul trouble. A couple of girls fouled out. I knew it was wearing them down, so I knew once we wore them down we could get the ball to the spots so we could score relatively easily."

The win sets up what promises to be a classic confrontation -- Notre Dame, the Class D1 champs, vs. Elba, who won the Class D2 championship earlier in the evening at Letchworth. These are two powerhouse girls basketball programs with a long history of winning (both have won state championships this decade) and a long history of wanting to beat each other more than any other team -- other than the one right in front of them. Notre Dame and Elba will play at 7 p.m., Tuesday, at Cal-Mum to consolidate the Class D championship so one of the teams can go on to represent Section V in the Far West Regionals, the next step toward a possible berth in the state championship Final Four.

The last time the two teams met in post-season was 2013 when Notre Dame upset Elba in a semifinals game on its way to an eventual state championship. Elba hadn't won a Section V title since 2012 when they went on to become state champs.

Callie McCulley, tournament MVP, scored 20 points. Margaret Sutherland scored 16, Natalie Thornton 13, Hannah Bowen got nine and Morgan Rhodes, six.

To purchase prints, click here.

Margaret Sutherland posted a double-double (13 points and 10 rebounds) to help lead Notre Dame's Lady Irish to a 55-23 victory over Lyndonville in their opening Section V playoff game Wednesday night.

Callie McCulley scored 15 points. Morgan Rhodes added nine points to go with seven steals. Hannah Bowen and Emma Finch each scored six and Bowen also had six steals.

The Fighting Irish traveled to Geneseo Tuesday night to take on Geneseo-Livonia. Notre Dame dominated the first two periods, entering the third with a 2-0 lead. Geneseo rallied a comeback attempt in the third, but despite several scoring opportunities were unable to overcome the two-point deficit, leading to a 2-1 victory for the Fighting Irish. 

Photos by Destin Danser Photography. Click here to view more or purchase prints.

Notre Dame High School celebrated on Saturday by thanking Mike Rapone for his outstanding dedication to the students of Notre Dame and his achievement of being inducted into the Sec V Basketball Hall of Fame.

He was inducted as the all-time winning coach in history. Not bad at all, some might say downright impressive. Rapone wouldn’t. He would tell you it’s the players' achievement not his. Notre Dame celebrated the fete with basketball, fittingly with four games against Rapone’s hometown of Le Roy.

The Lady Irish varsity team dominated Le Roy and finished with a score of 41 to 33.

The Notre Dame boys varsity fought a playoff-intensity fight against Le Roy, that was back and forth for the first three quarters of the game. Notre Dame lost by a score of 48 to 65 when the game got away from them in the fourth quarter. 

Even with a couple of key players out because of colds, the Alexander Lady Trojans gave Notre Dame a fight for four quarters, falling short at the end when Callie McCulley sunk a pair of free throws to give the Irish a 34-33 victory.

The home team ended the first and second quarters with leads, but Notre Dame's defense helped keep the game within reach.

McCulley finished with 10 points to go with 10 from Margaret Sutherland and five from Natalie Thornton.

For Alexander, Marissa Scharlau, Jordan George, seven, Maci Riggs and Caylin Walton each had six.

Cal-Mum won the annual Rotary Basketball Tournament at Genesee Community College on Friday night with a 51-34 win over Notre Dame.

Gillian Flint of Cal-Mum was the tournament MVP. She scored 20 points in the final.

For Notre Dame, Callie McCulley scored 14 points and Natalie Thornton scored 11 points.

In the consolation game, Batavia beat Attica 61-55 in overtime. For the second game in a row, Ryann Stefaniak scored a season-best point total, after getting 26 on Wednesday; she scored 31 last night.

Stefaniak, along with Notre Dame's McCulley and Margaret Sutherland, were named to the All-Tournament Team.

To purchase prints, click here.

Notre Dame’s Lady Irish met Attica at Genesee Community College for the second game of the Batavia Rotary Club Girls Basketball Tournament. Coming into the game, Notre Dame was the favorite, but very quickly the game was in doubt for them as Attica came off the bench and started strong. By the end of the first quarter, Notre Dame had scored just two points on free throws and Attica led by 13 to 2. 

The second quarter was not that much better, even though Notre Dame tripled the amount of points they scored in the first quarter. Half time began with a score of Notre Dame 6 Attica 17.

Notre Dame's Head Coach Tom McCulley had a short meeting with his team in the locker room and they returned to the court to get ready for the second half. Whatever he said must have been effective because Notre Dame quickly took control of the game at both ends of the court. They were able to score consistently and shut out Attica’s offense. At the end of three quarters, Notre Dame led 23 to 17. 

Callie McCully (pictured above) led the scoring in the third for Notre Dame and continued the trend into the fourth quarter, ending the night with 15 points. Attica threatened to come back with a few nice plays but was not able to sustain a rally. Final score: Notre Dame 33 Attica 25.

Notre Dame moves on in the tournament to face Cal-Mum Friday. More pictures of the game are here.

For coverage of the Batavia -- Cal-Mum game, click here.

Press release:

Saturday, Jan. 28^th will be all about basketball at Notre Dame High School.

All four basketball teams will play against Le Roy, starting with the JV Girls team at noon, followed by the JV Boys team at 1:30 p.m. Varsity teams tip off at 5 p.m. with the girls' game followed by a ceremony around 6:30 p.m. honoring Coach Mike Rapone, Section V Basketball Hall of Famer and winningest coach in Section V Boys’ Basketball history. Then Coach Rapone and the Boys Varsity team take the court at 7 p.m.

A tour of the renovated school is scheduled for 4 p.m. and there will be a gathering after the Boys Varsity game in the cafeteria to congratulate Mike.

Coach Rapone was inducted into the Section V Basketball Hall of Fame in November, 2016. He has led Notre Dame Basketball to an incredible 30 Genesee Region League Basketball Championships, capturing nine Section V titles, six Far West Regional Championships and two New York State Championships. He has been honored as Section V Coach of the Year three times and Genesee Region Coach of the Year four times.

In a game that was never really close, the Batavia Blue Devils won the annual Lions Tournament at GCC, beating the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, 60-29.

Tee Sean Ayala scored 19, despite a cold hand in the first half. He hit four three-pointers over the course of the game.

Antwan Odom, the tournament MVP, scored 14. He hit three threes. 

It was another big game for Notre Dame's Ryan Moffat, who hit three threes on his way to 15 points.

Press release from Notre Dame High School:

“After considering the information presented to the Section V Executive Committee at the administrative hearing held on Dec. 19, the Executive Committee has ruled that there has been no violation of the New York State Public High School Athletic Association (“NYSPHSAA”) sport standard #24 -- RECRUITMENT AND UNDUE INFLUENCE by Notre Dame of Batavia High School.”

Notre Dame is relieved for these three students, their families, and our hockey coach, Mr. Marc Staley.

It was unfortunate that our students, families, and staff, had to face these unfounded allegations of wrongdoing. Whether in the classroom, on the ice, or through community service, Notre Dame remains committed to instilling in our students the faith, knowledge, and confidence they will need to succeed in an ever-changing world. We are thankful for the thoughtful deliberation and time the Section V Executive Committee gave Notre Dame in making this decision.   

Batavia and Notre Dame will meeting in the Lions Tournament final on Thursday at Genesee Community College after the Fighting Irish knocked of Roy-Hart 47-41 and the Blue Devils topped Albion 60-43.

For the Irish, Nico Zambito scored 14, including a pair of threes, Ryan Moffat had 13 points, including three triples, and Anthony Gugino hit a pair of threes for six total points.

In the nightcap, Tee Sean Ayala dropped seven three-point shots for 21 points on the night and Antwan Odom added 16 points.  

For Albion, Lamar Chambers had 19 points.

In their first meeting of the season, Notre Dame prevailed Wednesday night at home over archrival Elba, 43-34.

Margaret Sutherland led all scorers with 21 points and Calli McCulley added 16 for Notre Dame.

For the Lancers, Emily Reynolds scored 12 and Madison Howard scored 6.

It was the first win for new Head Coach Tom McCulley.

Three Lancers scored in double digits Monday night in the home opener for Elba against archrival Notre Dame, a game won by Elba, 72-34.

Tucker Bezon put up 19 points and Henry Pflaumer had 17 and Shane O'Halloran added 12. Pflaumer knocked down four three-point baskets.

For Notre Dame, Ryan Mukkat scored 11 points, anchored by a trio of three-point baskets.

Tonight, the Notre Dame girls host the Elba girls in their newly renovated gym. Game time is 7 p.m.