Contributed Photo – Alba Perez

Medina High graduate Alba Perez, who is ranked fifth in the nation in rebounding, had a big night both from the field and on the boards this evening in leading Niagara County Community College to an 87-53 victory over Erie County Community College.

Perez poured in 28 points and also had 12 rebounds and 3 steals for the Thunderwolves.

Alliyah Gillespie added 14 points, Taliyah Hopkins 12 and Peyton Butts 10 assists as NCCC improves to 5-1 in the league and 24-2 overall.

Contributed Photo

Kendall High seniors Maya and Taylor Rutland signed national letters of intent Wednesday to accept soccer scholarships from Roberts Wesleyan College. Maya, left, and Taylor are shown here at the signing with Roberts Wesleyan head Women’s Soccer Coach Bobby McColl, Assistant Coach Rebecca McColl and Rochester Junior Rhinos Coach Georgios Kyriazis. The sisters duo helped to lead Kendall to three Genesee Region League Division 1 titles and two Section V Class CC championships over the last three years. Maya had 29 goals and 7 assists last fall to finish with career totals of 73 goals and 22 assists. Taylor had 12 goals and 10 assists to finish with career totals of 21 goals and 20 assists. Maya is planning to major in Veterinary Science and Taylor in Forensic Science.

Photos by Cheryl Wertman – Lyndonville’s Hunter Ottaviano, left, and Medina’s Justin Morgan and their teammates will face key home games on Thursday. Battling to claim league titles, the Tigers will host Notre Dame and the Mustangs will entertain Albion.

Looking to get back onto the winning track, front-running Medina hosts rival Albion at 6:30 p.m. Thursday in a key Niagara-Orleans League boys basketball game.

Medina (10-1), which had a season long 10 game N-O win streak snapped at Wilson on Tuesday (75-64), now holds a slender one game lead over Roy-Hart (9-2) in the tight league title chase. Roy-Hart hosts Newfane on Thursday.

Medina bested Albion by a 56-41 margin in their earlier meeting at Albion while Roy-Hart nipped Newfane 62-61.

The Purple Eagles are 5-6 in N-O action after downing Barker 65-48 Tuesday to snap a four game losing streak.

The Mustangs are seeking their first N-O title since the 2008-09 season while the Rams are looking to end a 20 year league title drought.

Lyndonville faces an equally key home contest as the Tigers host Notre Dame at 7 p.m. Thursday.

Lyndonville, which is chasing once beaten Elba in the race for the Genesee Region League Division 2 title, is now 10-2 and 14-4 overall.

The Irish outlasted the Tigers 92-79 in their earlier season meeting at Batavia.

Lyndonville, which has won eight G-R games in a row, will then host Elba on February 9 to close out the regular season.

Photos by Cheryl Wertman – Lyndonville’s Makenzie Muck (33) puts up a shot against Notre Dame defender Rebecca Krenzer (42) during the Lady Tigers loss to the host Lady Irish this evening.

Starting to pull away late in the second quarter, Notre Dame went on to defeat visiting Lyndonville 64-42 this evening in a Genesee Region League girls basketball game.

Rebecca Krenzer scored a game high 25 points as Margaret Sutherland added 16 and Callie McCulley 12 to lead the way for Notre Dame which improves to 12-5.

Aubrey Lewis scored 16 and Makenzie Muck 13 for Lyndonville as Anna Lewis added 4, Jasmine Plummer, Abi Rodriguez, Stacey Buckland and Kennedy Clark 2 each and Miranda Lembcke 1.

Leading by a narrow 16-15 margin, Notre Dame closed the first half with a 9-2 run to open up a 25-17 advantage. Krenzer had three layups to key that run.

Keeping the momentum, the Lady Irish opened the third period with an 8-0 run, including a layup and a three by Krenzer, to stretch the advantage to 16, 33-17.

Lyndonville did close the gap a bit to 10, 35-25, after baskets by Rodriguez, Muck and Aubrey Lewis but would get no closer.

Notre Dame moved back out to a 15 point, 40-25, lead at the three-quarter mark and extended the advantage to 20, 48-28, after opening the final stanza with an 8-3 run.

Getting three early baskets from Krenzer, Notre Dame jumped out to a 9-2 lead at the outset.

Lyndonville’s Aubrey Lewis (21) puts up a shot over Notre Dame’s Margaret Sutherland (33).

Lyndonville though answered back with buckets by Aubrey Lewis, McKenzie and Anna Lewis to slice the deficit to one, 9-8, at the end of the period.

The Lady Tigers then grabbed their only lead at 10-9 on a layup by Muck to open the second period.

Muck, Lembcke and Plummer then traded tallies with McCulley and Krenzer to keep Lyndonville within one at 16-15.

However, the Lady Tigers could not regain the lead as the Lady Irish used a 9-2 run to close the half to begin to break the contest open.

Elsenheimer, Lindke to continue rivalry at MAAC colleges

Photos by Mike Wertman – Albion High senior Mariah Elsenheimer signed a national letter of intent this afternoon to accept a Division 1 soccer scholarship to Iona College. She is shown seated here with her parents Jeff and Vickie Elsenheimer. In back are Albion girls varsity soccer Coach Bruce Blanchard, Athletic Director Randy Knaak and High School Principal Matt Peterson.

Two local high school seniors, Albion’s Mariah Elsenheimer and Roy-Hart’s Emma Lindke, who have been soccer rivals in Niagara-Orleans League competition for the last four years, will be able to continue their rivalry on the collegiate level this coming fall as both signed national letters of intent today to play for Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) colleges.

Elsenheimer signed with Iona College and plans to major in Psychology.

Lindke signed with Niagara University and will major in Marketing and Finance.

Both student/athletes are multi-year first team Niagara-Orleans All-League honorees.

Elsenheimer had 70 goals and 30 assists over the past four years of varsity competition.

Lindke finished her four year varsity career as Roy-Hart’s all-time leader in goals (86), assists (37) and total points (209).

Roy-Hart High senior Emma Lindke accepted a Division 1 soccer scholarship from Niagara University this afternoon. She is shown seated with her parents Troy and Krisitia Lindke and brother Ethan. In back are former Roy-Hart Athletic Director John Jablonski, girls varsity soccer coaches Rich and Michelle Jennings and Athletic Director John Grzymala.

The Niagara-Orleans League boys basketball title race really tightened up this evening as host Wilson knocked front-running Medina from the ranks of the unbeaten by a score of 75-64.

The loss drops Medina to 10-1 and reduces the Mustangs lead over runner-up Roy-Hart (9-2) to just one with three games remaining on the N-O schedule.

Alex Fox scored 23 and Ryan Bradley 22 to spearhead the attack for Wilson. Connor Seeley added 10, Jonah Miller 9 and Andrew Eames 8 as the third place Lakemen made it four wins in a row to improve to 7-4.

Jalin Cooper took game high scoring honors with 25 for Medina as Jared Zinkievich added 10, Dylan Lewis 8 and Justin Morgan, Tyler Ames and Daryl Haynes 6 each.

Medina jumped out to leads of 13-0 at the outset, 16-9 after one period and 32-26 at the half but Wilson came battling back with a 22-13 third period scoring edge to rally into a 48-45 lead at the three-quarter mark.

The Lakemen then outpointed the Mustangs 25-19 in the final stanza, including a perfect 10 of 10 from the free throw line, to put a lock on the victory. In fact, the Lakemen went 19 of 22 from the line for the game.

Bradley tallied 14 in the final period to lead Wilson’s big stretch run.

Medina next hosts rival Albion at 6:30 p.m. Thursday.

CSAT 61, Newfane 50
Improving to 4-7, CSAT bested Newfane 61-50 as Jahleel Burks led the way with 18.

Kyle DeVoogel scored 17 and Chad Gilson 14 for Newfane which slips to 5-6.

N-O Standings

Medina 10-1, Roy-Hart 9-2, Wilson 7-4, Albion 5-6, Newfane 5-6, Barker 4-7, CSAT 4-7, Akron 0-11.

Contributed Photo

The Niagara-Orleans League will be represented at an upcoming national field hockey competition as Newfane junior Mia Ludwig and her Western New York Whalers Field Hockey Club U19 Blue team have qualified to compete in the USA Field Hockey National Indoor Tournament at Richmond, Va. February 26-28. The WNY Whalers U19 Blue team includes, in front, Hayley Skidmore, Leah Rogers and Danila Casseri from Williamsville East and Kaylee Pistner from Sweet Home. In back are Coach Kate Kurzanski, Marnie Reidell from Williamsville South, Mia Ludwig from Newfane and Chantel Gauthier and Mia D’Amato from Iroquois. The U19 Blue team qualified for the nationals, which will have 120 teams from around the country taking part, after a successful competition at the recent Siena Tournament. The appearance at the nationals is a first for the WNY Whalers Field Hockey Club which was organized in 2011. “This is the classic story of the underdogs,” said Coach Kate Kurzanski. “It is a group of girls that nobody thought could compete on a national level. I believed, and we went out and competed and proved people wrong. The underdogs came through and I am extremely proud of my girls.”

Albion downs Barker

Clinching at least a tie for a seventh straight title, undefeated (12-0) Wilson posted a 56-30 victory over host Medina this evening in a Niagara-Orleans League girls basketball game.

Rachel Senek scored 15, Kayla Neumann 14 and Serina Jaeger 9 to set the pace for Wilson which roared out to a commanding 33-11 first half advantage. Jaeger tallied 9 and Neumann and Senek 8 each during that stretch.

Je’ne Brown scored 13 for Medina which slips to 5-6.

Albion 45, Barker 35

Trailing 15-13 after one quarter, Albion used a 15-4 second period scoring surge to key a 45-35 win over visiting Barker to improve to 6-5.

Chanyce Powell scored 12, Emily Blanchard 9, Sierra Newton 7 and Caitlynn Snook and Natalie DiCureia 6 each for Albion which led 28-19 at the half and 37-24 after three-quarters. Blanchard hit two threes to lead the Purple Eagles big second quarter uprising.

Caitlyn Mason took game high scoring honors with 21 for Barker (3-8).

Akron 50, Roy-Hart 40

Jumping out to a 28-13 half-time advantage, Akron (2-9) went on to defeat Roy-Hart (1-10) 50-40 as Darion Jonathan scored 15, Neely Abrams 12 and Ashley Mietz 7 to lead the Lady Tgiers.

Emma Lindke scored 15 and Reilly Albee 11 for Roy-Hart.

Newfane 40, CSAT 30
Katie Kneeland had 16 points and 9 rebounds to lead Newfane (10-2) to a 40-30 win over CSAT (6-5).

N-O Standiings

Wilson 12-0, Newfane 10-2, Albion 6-5, CSAT 6-5, Medina 5-6, Barker 3-8, Akron 2-9, Roy-Hart 1-10.

Photos by Cheryl Wertman – Lyndonville’s Nick Hinkson drives in for a layup against Kendall defenders Jake Ramsdell (22) and James Longrod (24) during the Tigers win over the host Eagles this evening.

Pulling away with a big third period scoring surge, Lyndonville went on to defeat host Kendall 65-52 this evening to stay in the thick of the Genesee Region League Division 2 title race.

Nick Hinkson scored 21, Eric Neace 15, Eddie Schildt 14 and Corey Hydock 9 for Lyndonville which improves to 10-2 in the league and 14-4 overall.

Jacob Ramsdell and Brandon Miller both scored 12, Colton Breslawski 9 and Nick Manners 7 for Kendall which slips to 2-11, 3-15.

Lyndonville’s Corey Hydock drives by Kendall defender Collin Lewis.

Trailing 16-11 after one period, Kendall closed the gap to just two, 27-25, late in the second quarter after a three by Collin Lewis and a layup by Ramsdell.

Lyndonville though opened up a little breathing room as Hydock hit a three to close the period and give the Tigers a 30-25 lead at the break.

Hinkson netted 9 in the second period for the Tigers while Ramsdell had 6 for the Eagles.

Kendall’s Nick Manners looks to shoot over Lyndonville’s Eddie Schildt.

Lyndonville then finally broke the contest open by outscoring Kendall 23-12 in the third period as the Tigers running game shifted into high gear..

Hinkson and Neace both scored 8 to lead that uprising which vaulted the Tigers out to an 18 point, 53-37, advantage at the three-quarter mark.

Lyndonville next hosts Notre Dame at 7 p.m. Thursday in another key G-R Division 2 contest. Notre Dame dropped a 43-26 decision to Division 2 front-runner Elba this evening. Lyndonville will then host Elba in the regular season finale on February 9.

Kendall’s James Longrod puts up a three over Lyndonville defender Jacob Hoffee.

Alexander 49, Holley 39
Trailing 17-14 at the half, Alexander used a 13-8 third period scoring edge to key a 49-39 G-R win over Holley.

Derek McArthur scored 16 for Holley as Zach Vaccarelli and Chris Balys both added 8. Vaccarelli also grabbed off 11 rebounds and Dylan Hillabush 10.

Contributed Photo – These 11 swimmers each earned at least one first place finish at today’s annual Niagara-Orleans All-League Girls Individual Swim Championships. They include Lauren Seymour, Allie DeBiase, Lydia Gaughan, Meghan Mietlicki and Ally Martin from Newfane; Mireia Coll-Vincent, Sara Gendrue, Emma Jenks and Natalie Menz from Barker; Emma Gardner from Medina and Julia Diebel from Akron.

Regular season team champion Newfane took first place honors in 7 of 11 events at today’s annual Niagara-Orleans All-League Girls Individual Swim Championships.

Lydia Gaughran doubled in the 200 Freestyle (2:09.87) and 500 Free (5:48.86) and Allie DeBiase in the 200 Individual Medley (2:2582) and 100 Breaststroke (1:13.28) to lead the way for Newfane as Meghan Mietlicki added a win in the 100 Free (:59.47).

Gaughran, DeBiase and Mietlicki also teamed up with Lauren Seymour to win the 200 Medley Relay (2:00.0) and with Ally Martin to take the 400 Free Relay (4:03.02.

Medina’s Emma Gardner was also a double winner in the 50 Free (:26.63) and the 100 Butterfly (1:07.25).

Akron’s Julia Diebel won the 100 Backstroke (1:06.61).

Barker took the 200 Free Relay in 1:47.99 with the foursome of Mireia Coll-Vincent, Sara Gendrue, Emma Jenks and Natalie Menz. Menz also placed second in the 50 Free as did Gendrue in the 100 Breaststroke.