Quarterfinal round competition begins this evening for the Section VI girls basketball tournament which is celebrating its milestone 50th anniversary year.

Since the Section VI girls championship tournament began in 1976 Niagara-Orleans League teams have captured a total of 18 titles over the event’s first 49 years.

Newfane and Wilson, which share the N-O title this season, have both captured six championships.

Newfane captured the Class B2 title in 1984, 1985, 1987, 1989, 1990 and the Class C1 title in 1996. The Lady Panthers also claimed the overall Section VI Class B title in 1987, 1989 and 1990 and the overall C title in 1996 and advanced to the state semifinals in 1989.

Wilson captured the Class C1 title in 2003 and the Class B2 championship in 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014 and 2017.

Medina captured the Class B2 championship in both 1996 and 1997.

Roy-Hart claimed the Class C1 championship in 2004 and the Class B2 title in 2005.

Former N-O member Starpoint, which now competes in the ECIC, captured the Class C1 title in 1994 and the B2 crown in 1995.

Six N-O teams have advanced to this year’s quarterfinal round beginning with No. 8 Albion at No. 1 Depew contest in Class A2 this evening at 7.

On Saturday, No. 8 Medina will visit No. 1 Southwestern and  No. 4 Newfane will host No. 5  Akron in Class B1, while No. 7 Roy-Hart will visit No. 2 Salamanca and No. 4 Wilson will host No. 5 Allegany-Limestone in Class B2.

Nine Niagara-Orleans League wrestlers will begin competition in the Division 2 state championships tomorrow at the MVP Arena in Albany.

At 108 lbs., Albion eighth grader Stryker Sanders, who has compiled a 32-4 record this season, will face Joel Diaz a freshman from Seaford (Section VIII) who has a 24-5 record in his opening round match.

At 116 lbs., Medina senior Reece Senske, who is seeded fifth with s 29-4 season record, will be making his second appearance at the state championships. The eighth place finisher a year ago, he has drawn a bye in the opening round. In his first match he will face the winner of the Jake Burton (33-13, sophomore, Marcellus – Section III) vs. Ethan York (31-12, senior, Warrensburg/Lake George – Section II) match.

At 190 lbs., Medina senior Brody Fry, who is seeded seventh with s 35-6 record, will face Jack Brown, a senior from Beekmantown (Section VII) with a 39-4 record, in his first match.

At 170 lbs., Roy-Hart senior Ronan Klug, who has a 28-5 record, will open against senior Yusuf Addali from RFK (NY City).

At 145 lbs., the Newfane senior duo of Ayden Buttery (32-3) and Aidan Gillings (38-4) are seeded third and fourth respectively and both have first round byes.

At 160 lbs., Wilson senior Jacob Stephenson is seeded No. 1 with a 38-3 record and has a first round bye.

Also at 160, Newfane’s Jake Morello, a sophomore with a 23-7 record, will open against Joshua Uben, a junior with a 33-7 record from Riverdale Kingsbridge Academy (NY City).

At 285 lbs., Wilson senior Hamza Merrick, who has a 36-8 record, is seeded third and has a first round bye.

The first two rounds and the quarterfinals will be held tomorrow. The consolation rounds, semifinals and championship matches will be held on Saturday.

Photos by Cheryl Wertman – Medina’s Roswyn Oakes tries to put up a shot against Tonawanda defenders Ceaira Heuser and Aubrey Sevenski during the Mustangs home court sectional win this evening.

No. 8 seed Medina posted a 65-48 win over visiting No. 9 Tonawanda this evening in a Section VI Class B1 girls basketball tournament pre-quarterfinal round game.

Honesty Hill puts up a shot for Medina as Zoey Zuckerman defends for Tonawanda.

Alexa Demmer scored 25 and Honesty Hill 22 to lead the Medina offense. Ariel Smith added 10. Sam Heschke 6 and Roswyn Oakes 2 for the Mustangs.

Demmer scored 19 in the first half as Medina built up a 38-21 advantage.

Hill then tallied 15 in the second half to help the Mustangs close out the win.

Medina will next visit top seeded Southwestern on Saturday in the B1 quarterfinals.

Roy-Hart 31, Falconer 22
No. 7 seed Roy-Hart bested visiting No. 10 Falconer in a Section VI Class B2 pre-quarterfinal.

Adella Dukes scored 13, Kaitlin Mettler 6 and Courtney Aquilina 5 to set the pace for Roy-Hart which next visits No. 2 Salamanca on Saturday.

Ellicottville 62, Barker 19
No. 4 seed Ellicottville downed visiting No. 13 Barker 62-19 in a Section VI Class C pre-quarterfinal.

Rachel Samson and Hailey Dodge each scored 5 points and Arnie Sturtevant grabbed off 9 rebounds for Barker.

Photos by Cheryl Wertman – Albion’s Elliott Trapiss puts up a shot during the Purple Eagles home court sectional win over City Honors this evening.

Roaring out to a commanding 40 point half-time advantage, No. 5 seed Albion went on to defeat visiting No. 12 City Honors 76-22 this evening in a Section VI Class A2 pre-quarterfinal round tournament contest.

Wesley Olles and Tyler Cody both scored 15 to lead a parade of 11 Purple Eagle point getters.

Albion’s Josh Schoeberlein drives to the basket.

Kyle Radder, Seth Krenning and Elliott Trapiss each added 8, Noah Harrison 6, Isaiah Riley 4, Austin Huscher 4, Josh Schoeberlein 3 and Luke Bell and Peyton Robinson 2 each for the Purple Eagles.

Albion jumped out to a 19-2 first quarter lead as Olles tallied 6 and Radder and Cody 4 each and Riley hit a three.

The Purple Eagle advantage increased to 47-7 at the half as Cody hit three threes in the second period. Olles also had 9 points, Krenning 6 and Radder 4.

Albion led 60-13 at the end of the third quarter.

Improving to 13-8, Albion will next visit No. 4 seed Buffalo Science in the A2 quarterfinals on Friday.

Williamson 81, Holley 75
No. 9 seed Holley dropped a high scoring 81-75 decision at No. 8 Williamson in a Section V Class B2 tournament game.

Destin Kuyal scored 30 to lead Holley as Vinny Golisano and Chris Mosier both had 14.

Photos by Cheryl Wertman – Isabella Groves, left, and Addison Dillenbeck, both set school scoring records during the Lady Tigers sectional win over Friendship-Scio this evening at Byron-Bergen.

Setting two individual records along the way, No. 6 seed Lyndonville rolled to a 61-24 win over No. 11 Friendship-Scio in a Section V Class D girls basketball tournament game this evening at Byron-Bergen.

Senior Isabella Groves scored a game high 26 points, including a record seven three’s to lead the way for Lyndonville.

Senior Addison Dillenbeck tallied 17 for the Lady Tigers to become the school’s career scoring leader with 1,158 points bettering the old mark of 1,156 set by her brother Nate.

Lilly Raduns added 8, Alexa Robinson 5, Braelynn Dillenbeck 3 and Brooke Robinson 2 for the Lady Tigers.

Lyndonville jumped out to a 22-9 first quarter lead as Addison Dillenbeck scored 10 including a pair of threes.

Up 31-19 at the half, the Lady Tigers put a lock on the win in the third period as Groves scored 10 including three threes.

Improving to 12-8, Lyndonville will next visit No. 3 CG Finney in the quarterfinal round on Saturday.

Kendall 52, Letchworth 38

All nine players contriubted to the point production as No. 7 Kendall defeated No. 10 Letchworth in the Section V Class C1 tournament.

Brooke Rodas scored 14 to lead the way for Kendall as Lia Larson added 9, Sophia Picardo 8, Stella Kwiatek 5, Mia Price and Ava LaMay 4 each, Addison Kludt and Alea Barrett 3 each and Izzy D’Agostino 2.

The Lady Eagles led 26-19 at the half and 40-32 at the end of three quarters.

Kendall, which is now 12-8, will next visit Genesee Region League foe No. 2 seed Byron-Bergen on Saturday in the quarterfinals.

No. 5 seed Albion will host No 12 City Honors in a Section VI Class A2 boys basketball tournament game at 7 this evening.

City Honors advanced by defeating No. 13 Tonawanda 65-45 in an opening round contest on Tuesday.

The winner of the Albion (12-8) vs. City Honors (5-16) game will visit No. 4 Buffalo Science (14-6) on Friday in the quarterfinals.

Girls Basketball
The No. 8 seed Medina girls will host No. 9 Tonawanda in a Section VI girls Class B1 tournament game at 7 this evening.

Also at 7 this evening the No. 7 Roy-Hart girls will host No. 10 Falconer in a Class B2 contest.

The long trip to the Southern Tier was worth it as No. 9 seed Albion defeated No. 8 Olean 43-25 this evening at Olean in the opening round of the Section VI Class A2 girls basketball tournament.

Cami London scored 14 and Melia Prince 13 to lead the way for Albion. Kenzi Snook added 8, Aaliyah Jones 4 and Paige Newton and Julia Knight 2 each for the Lady Eagles.

Albion, which led 20-10 at the half, next visits top seeded Depew (17-3) in the quarterfinal round of the A2 playoffs at 7 p.m. Thursday.

No. 9 seed Kendall defeated No. 8 Clyde-Savannah 57-51 in the opening round of the Section V Class C2 boys basketball tournament this evening at Clyde-Savannah.

Jonny Conte scored 18, William Kludt 16 and CJ D’Agostino 10 to set the pace for Kendall. Vinnie D’Agostino added 7, Noah Morehouse 4 and Sammy Conte 2 for the Eagles.

Kendall held a narrow 27-22 lead at the half.

Improving to 9-11, Kendall will next visit No. 1 seed Bradford-Dundee in the C2 quarterfinals on Friday.

Houghton 43, Lyndonville 25
No. 7 seed Houghton Academy downed visiting No. 10 Lyndonville in the first round of the Section V Class D boys basketball tournament this evening.

Jack Prentice scored 25 and Joshua Davidson 14 to lead the way for Houghton which had split a pair of regular season games with Lyndonville.

Jacob Pitcher led Lyndonville with 11 as Colton Smith added 7, Juan Alberdi 4 and Lyric Raduns 3.

Maple Grove 54, Barker 47
Building up a 28-14 half-time advantage, No. 14 Maple Grove went on to defeat No. 11 Barker in the opening round of the Section VI boys basketball tournament this evening at Barker.

Wyatt Sherman scored 11, Owen Harris and Donovan Hefferon 8 each, Isaac Monaco 7 and Anthony Talifierro 7 each, Logan Murrell 4 and Jackson Prynn 2 for Barker.

Photos by Cheryl Wertman – Holley’s Alivia Wolf drives between North Rose-Wolcott defenders Tyler Gardner and Olivia DeBoendere to try for a shot during the Lady Hawks home court sectional win this evening.

Steadily pulling away over the first three quarters, No. 7 seeded Holley downed visiting No. 10 North Rose-Wolcott 43-25 this evening in the opening round of the Section V Class B2 girls basketball tournament.

Alivia Wolf scored a game high 23 points to lead the way for Holley. Brynn Thomas added 8, Zoey Wolf and Alexis VanAmermon 3 each and Hanna Ostrom, Desiree McCormack and Kyla Burne 2 each for the Lady Hawks.

Olivia DeBoerdere led North Rose-Wolcott with 8.

Holley grabbed a slender 8-6 lead at the end of the opening period as Alivia Wolf and Thomas each scored four in the early going.

The Lady Hawks increased the lead to eight, 20-12 at the half as Alivia Wolf tallied 8 in the second period.

Holley increased its advantage to 14, 34-20, at the three-quarter mark as Alivia Wolf had 9 in the third period as Zoey Wolf added a three and Thomas a basket.

Now at 6-14, Holley will next visit No. 2 seed Marcus Whitman in the quarterfinals on Friday.

Holley’s Bryn Thomas looks to drive against North Rose-Wolcott defender Peytin Westurn.