Photos by Cheryl Wertman – Lyndonville’s Lilly Raduns puts up a shot during the Lady Tigers home court sectional win over Lima Christian this evening.

A big third quarter scoring surge rallied No. 8 seed Lyndonville to a come-from-behind 46-37 win over visiting No. 9 Lima Christian in a Section V Class D girls basketball playoff game this evening.

Trailing 23-20 at the half, Lyndonville came rallying back with an 18-10 third period scoring edge to rally into the lead for good at 38-33.

Isabella Groves spearheaded that rally with 10 points, including a three, as Alexa Robinson had a pair of baskets and Hannah Fox hit a three.

The Lady Tigers then put a lock on the victory by outscoring the Saints 8-0 over the first seven minutes of the final period to extend the lead to 13 at 46-33.

Fox had two baskets during that spurt as Groves and Lilly Raduns each had one.

Groves finished with 14, Robinson 13 and Fox 10 to lead the Lady Tigers. Leah Costello added 3 as Raduns, Braelynn Dillenbeck and Leah Kenyon each had 2.

Alyssa Marsh and Brielle Hammond each scored 10 to lead Lima Christian.

Improving to 11-10, Lyndonville will next visit top seeded Avoca-Prattsburgh (17-3) on Saturday.

Isabella Groves puts up an off balanced shot in traffic for Lyndonville.

Kendall 63, HAC 41
Building up a 29-19 half-time lead, No. 9 Kendall went on to defeat No.8 HAC 63-41 in a Class C1 contest this evening at HAC.

Mia Price scored 21, Teagan Shaw 15, Sophia Picardo 10, Stella Kwiatek 9, Izzy D’Agostino 6 and Payton Vogt 2 for Kendall.

Kendall will next face the winner of the No. 1 Letchworth vs. No. 16 Rochester Academy game on Saturday.

Section VI Girls Playoffs
No. 5 Akron defeated No. 13 JFK 62-44 in a Section VI Class B game and No. 3 Wilson bested No. 6 Westfield 38-33 in a Class C game.

Section V Boys Playoffs
No. 5 Williamson downed visiting No. 12 Holley 82-57 in a Class B2 contest.

Avante Walker scored 22, Josh Silpoch 12 and Cam Mosier 11 for Holley.

Lyndonville’s Alexa Robinson goes in for a layup.

Steadily pulling away, No. 6 seed Kendall downed Genesee Region League foe No. 11 Byron-Bergen 70-46 in the opening round of the Section V Class C1 boys basketball playoffs this evening at Kendall.

CJ D’Agostino scored 23 and Vinnie D’Agostino 17 to lead the offense for Kendall as Noah Morehouse and Sammy Conte both had 9, Jonny Conte 5, Ryan Gaesser 3 and Jonas Rhodes and Aiden Fisken 2 each.

Byron-Bergen was led by Andrew White with 17, Joel Lamb 11 and Cody Carlson 10.

Kendall grabbed a slender 17-16 lead at the end of the opening period as CJ D’Agostino scored 6, Sammy Conte 5 and Vinnie D’Agostino 4 in the early going.

The Eagles went on to hike the advantage to 20, 31-21, at the half and to 19, 51-32, at the three-quarter mark. CJ D’Agostino scored 6 in the second period while Vinnie D’Agostino had 8 and Morehouse 5 in the third quarter. CJ D’Agostino also tallied 8 in the final stanza.

Kendall will next face No. 3 Pembroke, a 50-30 winner over vs. No. 14 Letchworth, on Friday.

Hinsdale 33, Lyndonville 22
No. 8 Hinsdale downed No. 9 Lyndonville 33-22 in a Class D contest this evening at Fillmore.

Lane Woodworth led Lyndonville with 9 as Quincy McClinsey and Atticus Mank both had 4, Colton Smith 3 and Devon Babcock 2.

No. 12 seed Barker upended host No. 5 Cattaraugus/Little Valley 72-45 this evening in the second round of the Section VI Class C boys basketball playoffs.

The victory advances Barker to a quarterfinal round contest at No. 4 Westfield on Thursday.

Donovan Hefferon scored 23 including 5 threes, Anthony Taliaferro 19 and Carter DerSarkissian 16 to lead the Barker offense. Hefferon also had 10 rebounds, Taliaferro 7 rebounds and 6 steals and JJ Prynn 9 assists and 8 rebounds.

Trailing 16-12 after the first period, Barker rallied into leads of 30-22 at the half and 55-34 at the three-quarter mark.

Class B2
Akron 68, Falconer 34
No. 2 seed Akron downed visiting No. 7 Falconer 68-34 in a Class B2 quarterfinal as Derren Brooks scored 24, Ben Gerstung 13, Blake Gerstung 9 and Ace Abrams 8.

Akron led 36-11 at the half.

In another B2 contest, No. 4 MST downed No. 5 Newfane 61-39. Camlo Flowers led Newfane with 11 Points, Nasir Spencer 10 points and 15 rebounds and Mac Capen with 9 points and 8 rebounds.

Girls Class A2
No. 4 Iroquois downed visiting No. 5 Albion 71-30 in the quarterfinals of the Section VI Class A2 girls basketball playoffs.

Melia Prince had 12 points and 12 rebounds to lead Albion as Jocelyn Friedl and Leah Pawlak both scored 6 and Aaliyah Jones 5.

Iroquois led 21-11 after the first quarter, 35-17 at the half and 54-21 at the three-quarter mark.

Avenging a 27 point (65-38) loss in last year’s opening round, No. 5 seed Medina posted a 53-35 victory over No. 4 Alden in the quarterfinal round of the Section VI Class B1 boys basketball playoffs this evening at Alden.

The victory advances Medina’s to Saturday’s B1 semifinal at 4 p.m. at SUNY Fredonia against No. 9 Southwestern which upended top seeded Middle Early College 65-54.

Jerrell Nealy and Preston Woodworth each scored 16 points to spearhead the Medina offense which was sparked by an aggressive, pressing defense. Christian Moss added 9, Kendrick Russaw 5, Jayzon Wills 4, Jimmy Dieter 2 and Carlos Doval 1.

Eli Peresan led Alden with 13.

Trailing 8-7 at the end of the first quarter, Medina rallied into a football like score of 17-14 at half-time. Woodworth scored 8, including a three, to lead that surge.

Keeping the momentum the Mustangs used a 20-9 third period scoring surge to extend the advantage to 14, 37-23, heading into the final period. Moss scored 6, Nealy 5 and Wills 4 to lead that uprising.

The Mustangs then closed out the win by outpointing the Bulldogs 16-12 in the final stanza as Nealy scored 7, including a three, Woodworth hit a three and Moss had a three-point play.

Medina improves to 15-6 heading into the semifinals.

Photo by Cheryl Wertman – Lyndonville’s Hannah Fox and her Lady Tiger teammates will host Lima Christian at 6 p.m. Wednesday in a Section V Class D playoff game.

Lyndonville will open at home and Kendall on the road Wednesday to begin Section V girls basketball tournament competition.

Seeded No. 8, Lyndonville will host No. 9 Lima Christian at 6 p.m. in a Class D game.

Both teams bring 10-10 regular season records into the sectionals.

The victor will visit top seeded Avoca-Prattsburgh (17-3) on Saturday.

The Lady Tigers have been led offensively by Isabella Groves who has scored 201 points (10.6 ave.) and Alexa Robinson (154 points, 8.6 ave.) Groves has also grabbed off 123 rebounds and Robinson 100.

Kendall, which is seeded No. 9 will visit No. 8 HAC at 6 p.m. in a Class C1 contest.

HAC posted a 14-6 record during the regular season and Kendall went 12-8.

The victor will visit top seeded Letchworth (19-1) on Saturday.

The Lady Eagles offense has been led by the quintet of Izzy D’Agostino (218 points, 167 rebounds), Mia Price (217 points, 85 rebounds), Teagan Shaw (197 points, 175 rebounds), Stella Kwiatek (151 points, 108 rebounds) and Sophia Picardo (98 points, 64 assists).

Section V Boys Playoffs
No. 12 seed Holley will visit No. 5 Williamson in the boys Class B2 playoffs at 6 p.m. Wednesday.

Williamson is 10-10 on the season and Holley 4-15.

The victor will face the winner of the No. 4 East Rochester (15-4) vs. No. 13 EMHCS (0-19) game on Saturday.

Photo by Cheryl Wertman – Avion Johnson and his Medina teammates will open Section VI Class B1 competition at Alden on Tuesday evening at 7.

It will be a rematch of last year’s playoff opener as No. 5 seed Medina visits No. 4 Alden in the Section VI Class B1 boys basketball quarterfinal at 7 p.m. Tuesday.

It was all Alden last year as the Bulldogs rolled to a 65-38 win. The Bulldogs took charge with a 23-3 second period scoring surge to open up a 37-18 half-time advantage. Keeping the momentum, the Bulldogs then used a 22-10 third period uprising to extend te advantage to 59-28.

Medina brings a 14-6 overall record (6-6 Niagara-Orleans League) into the sectionals while Alden is 7-13 (5-5 ECIC).

The victor will face the winner of the No. 1 Middle Early College vs. No. 9 Southwestern game in the semifinals at 4 p.m. Saturday at SUNY Fredonia.

Offensively, Medina has been led by Jerrell Nealy who has scored 320 points (16.8 ave.), Preston Woodworth (296 points, 14.8 ave.) and Christian Moss (177 points, 8.8 ave.) Nealy has also grabbed off 173 rebounds, Moss 124 and Woodworth 104.

Alden has been paced by the duo of Eli Peresan (266 points, 13.3 ave.) and Liam Shaver (232 points, 11.6 ave.)

Class B2
In Class B2 games at 7 p.m. Tuesday No. 2 Akron (17-3) will host No. 7 Falconer (10-10) and No. 5 Newfane (11-9) will visit No. 4 MST (12-7)

Class C
No. 12 Barker (7-24) will visit No. 5 Cattaraugus/Little Valley (15-5) at 7 p.m. Tuesday in a Class C contest.

Section VI Class A2 Girls Playoffs
No. 5 Albion (7-11) will visit No. 4 Iroquois (14-5) at 6 p.m. Tuesday in a Class A2 contest.

The victor will face the winner of the No. 8 Olean vs. No. 1 Depew contest in the semifinals on Saturday.

Photo by Cheryl Wertman – Kendall’s Sammy Conte and his Eagle teammates will host Byron-Bergen on Tuesday in the Class C1 sectional opener.

Kendall will be facing a very familiar opponent in the opening round of the Section V Class C1 boys basketball tournament when the No. 6 seed Eagles host Genesee Region League for No. 11 Byron-Bergen at 7 p.m. Tuesday.

Kendall downed Byron-Bergen twice during the G-R season by 20 point margins of 69-49 and 65-45.

The Eagles bring a 14-6 record into the sectionals while the Bees are 10-10.

The victor will face the winner of the No. 3 Pembroke (18-2) vs. No. 11 Letchworth (4-16) contest on Friday.

Offensively Kendall has been sparked by CJ D’Agostino, who is averaging 16.7 points, Vinnie D’Agostino (12.7 ave.), Noah Morehouse (8.1 ave.), Sammy Conte (7.3 ave.) and Jonny Conte (7.0) ave. CJ D’Agostino has also grabbed off 180 rebounds, Morehouse 110 and Sammy Conte 101.

Lyndonville opens on the road
No. 9 Lyndonville will face No. 8 Hinsdale in the opening round of the Section V Class D tournament at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at Fillmore.

Lyndonville is 5-15 on the season and Hinsdale 7-13.

The victor will face top seeded Andover-Whitesville (18-2) on Friday.

Holley also faces road test
No. 12 Holley will visit No. 5 Williamson at 6 p.m. Wednesday in the opening round of the Section V Class B2 tournament.

Holley is 4-15 and Williamson 10-10.

The victor will face the winner of the No. 6 East Rochester (15-4) vs. EMHCS (0-10) game on Saturday.

Leading from wire-to-wire, No. 3 seed Salamanca downed visiting No. 14 Medina 66-46 in a Section VI Class B girls basketball playoff game this afternoon.

Alexa Demmer scored 19, Caliyah St. Louis 14, Samantha Heschke 8, Tatianna Maxon 4, and Harmoni Wilson 1 for Medina which trailed 19-12 at the end of the first quarter, 31-23 at the half and 53-27 at the three-quarter mark.

Salamanca broke the contest wide open by starting the third quarter with a 16-0 run to open up a commanding 47-23 advantage.

Akron 48, Roy-Hart 12
In another Class B opener Akron downed Niagara-Orleans League foe Roy-Hart 48-12.

Adella Dukes scored 5 and Courtney Aquilina 4 for Roy-Hart which trailed 22-2 at the half.

Olmsted 69, Newfane 52
Olmsted ousted Newfane 69-52 in another Class B game.

Wilson 82, Barker 31
Wilson bested N-O foe Barker 82-31 in a Class C opener.

Bella Thrush scored 18 to lead Wilson as Andrea Faery added 10, Kylie Elia 9 and Abbie Faery and Rowan Simpson 8 each.

Hailey Dodge scored 10 points and Cheyanne Rouse had 7 points and 10 rebounds for Barker.

Red Creek 37, Holley 14
No. 8 seed Red Creek downed visiting No. 9 Holley 37-14 in the opening round of the Section V Class B2 girls basketball tournament this afternoon.

In a tight sea-saw battle No. 7 Olean edged visiting No. 10 Albion 56-48 in a Section VI Class A2 boys basketball playoff game this afternoon.

There were 9 ties and 10 lead changes in the tightly contested game before Olean closed with an 8-1 run to claim the slender win. Up 48-47 the Huskies made good on six free throws during that decisive final run.

Mykel Rivera scored 14 of his game high 25 points and Taylor Teachman 7 of his 11 in the decisive final quarter for Olean which saw the Huskies outscore the Purple Eagles 23-13.

Elijah Doxey scored 17, Tyler Cody 12, Wesley Olles 7, Adam Burgio 5, Nate Gibson 4 and Elliot Trapiss 3 for Albion.

Albion grabbled a slender 8-7 lead at the end of the first period as Cody and Gibson both hit threes.

The Purple Eagles went on to maintain narrow two point leads of 21-19 at the half and 35-33 at the end of the third quarter.

Doxey scored 7 in both of the middle two periods while Olles had 4 in the second and Cody 5 in the third.

Albion’s last lead came at the outset of the final period as a three by Trapiss put the Purple Eagles back up 38-36.

However, Olean answered with a decisive 20-10 scoring edge to close and claim the win as Rivera had 11 and Teachman 7 to key that Huskies surge. Two three-point plays by Rivera and one by Teachman ignited the big quarter.

Olean will next face No. 2 Maryvale in the A2 quarterfinal on Wednesday.

The Huskies are now 15-5 and the Flyers 13-6.

The Purple Eagles close the season with a 10-10 record.

Photos by Cheryl Wertman – Barker’s Anthony Taliaferro drives to the basket duing the host Bulldogs sectional win over Cassadaga Valley this evening.

Building up a commanding 23 point half-time advantage, No. 12 seed Barker rolled to a 71-45 victory over visiting No. 13 Cassadaga Valley this evening in the opening round of the Section VI Class C boys basketball tournament.

Anthony Taliaferro poured in a game high 24 points and Donovan Hefferon tallied 17 to spearhead Barker’s fast break attack which was sparked by an aggressive, stingy defense. Carter DerSarkissian added 8, Carson Schwab 7, JJ Prynn 4, Caden Garcia 3 and Ashton Ark, Peyton Wagner, Keagan Schaal and Matthew Meza Ray 2 each for the Bulldogs.

Mason Debo led Cassadaga Valley with 18.

Setting the tone for the evening, Barker jumped out to a 21-9 first quarter lead as Taliaferro scored 10 and Hefferon 7, including a three.

Taliaferro tacked on 10 more points in the second period, including a three and a three-point play, while DerSarkissian and Schwab both chipped in with threes as the Bulldogs lead jumped to 23 at 41-18.

Barker’s Carson Schwab puts up a shot against Cassadaga Valley defender Mason Debo.

Barker led by as many as 31, 49-18, early in the third period which finished with the Bulldogs up by 29 at 58-39. Hefferon had 6 in the period and DerSarkissian added a three.

The victory advances Barker to a second round contest at No. 5 Cattaraugus/Little Valley on Tuesday.

Springville 64, Roy-Hart 61 OT
No. 6 seed Springville outlasted visiting No. 11 Roy-Hart 63-61 in a first round Class B1 contest.

Roy-Hart sent the contest into overtime deadlocked at 54-54 by outscoring Springville 16-4 in the fourth quarter.

Springville though answered with a 10-7 scoring edge in the extra period to claim the narrow win.

Matt Aquilina scored 32 and Vinny Fazzio 15 to lead Roy-Hart.

Barker’s Donovan Hefferon drives to the basket as Mason Debo defends for Cassadaga Valley.

Photo by Cheryl Wertman – Wesley Olles and his Albion teammates will visit Olean on Saturday for the Section VI Class A2 playoff opener.

No. 10 seed Albion will open Section VI Class A2 boys basketball playoff competition on Saturday by journeying to the Southern Tier to face No. 7 Olean at noon.

Albion brings a 10-9 overall regular season record into the sectionals while Olean is 14-5.

The victory will visit No. 2 Maryvale on Wednesday February 25.

Offensively, the Purple Eagles have been led by the quartet of Elijah Doxey (313 points, 16.5 average), Tyler Cody (291 points, 15.3 ave.). Nate Gibson (212 points, 11.2 ave.) and Wesley Olles (172 points, 9.1 ave.) Olles has also grabbed off 143 rebounds, Cody 114, Doxey 100 and Gibson 87.

Leading the Huskies on offense have been Mykel Rivera (236 points, 12.4 ave.) and Joe Mest (178 points, 9.4 ave.)

Saturday will also be a busy day for Niagara-Orleans League girls basketball as six of the seven teams will be in action, mostly against each other.

In Class B, No. 12 Roy-Hart will visit No. 5 Akron and in Class C No. 3 Wilson will host No. 14 Barker. In addition, in Class B No 14 Medina will visit No. 3 Salamanca and No. 6 Newfane will face No. 1 Olmsted. All of the games are scheduled for noon.

The Kendall boys and Lyndonville girls have both earned home games for the upcoming opening round of the SEction V baskeball palyoffs.

Seeded No. 6 the Kendall boys will host Genesee Region League foe No. 11 Byron-Bergen at 7 p.m. Tuesday. The victor will then play the winner of the No. 14 Letchworth vs. No. 3 Pembroke game on Friday.

The No. 8 Lyndonville girls will host No. 9 Lima Christian at 6 p.m. Wednesday. The winner will visit top seeded Avoca Prattsburgh at 2 p.m. Saturday.

Seeded No. 9, the Kendall girls will visit No. 8 HAC at 6 p.m. Wednesday. The victor will face the winner of the No. 1 Letchworth vs. No. 16 Rochester Academy game.

The No. 9 seed Lyndonville boys will face No. 8 Hinsdale at Fillmore on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. The winner will face top seeded Andover-Whitesville on Friday.

The No. 12 seed Holley boys will visit No. 5 Williamson at 6 p.m. Wednesday. The victor will face the winner of the No. 4 East Rochester vs. No. 12 EMHCH contest  Saturday.

Seeded No. 9 the Holley girls will visit No. 8 Red Creek at 1 p.m. Saturday. The victor will face top seeded Cuba-Rushford/Bolivar-Richburg at 6 p.m. Tuesday.

Photo by Cheryl Wertman – Anthony Taliaferro and his Barker teammates will open Section VI playoff competition at home Friday evening against Cassadaga Valley.

Section VI boys basketball playoff competition will get underway on Friday evening as No. 12 seed Barker will host No. 13 Cassadaga Valley at 7 p.m. in a Class C contest.

The victor will advance to face No. 5 Cattaraugus/Little Valley on Tuesday February 24.

Both teams bring identical 6-14 regular season records into the sectionals.

Offensively Barker is led by the quartet of Anthony Taliaferro who has scored 334 points for a 16.7 average. Donovan Hefferon (204 points, 10.2 ave.), Carter DerSarkissian (169 points, 8.9 ave.) and JJ Prynn (166 points, 8.3 ave.)

Taliaferro has also grabbed off 150 rebounds, Prynn 138, Hefferon 99 and DerSarkissian 77.

Cassadaga Valley is led by Mason Debo who has scored 236 points (13.1 ave.), Connor Main who had tallied 151 points (8.4 ave.) and Brody Hawkins who has scored 141 points (8.3 ave.). Debo has also pulled down 184 rebounds and Hawkins 125.

Also on Friday evening No. 11 Roy-Hart will visit No. 6 Springville at 7 p.m. in a Class B1 game.

The Rams went 5-15 during the regular season and the Griffins 12-8.

The winner will face No. 3 East Community (9-10) on the 24th.

Clutch free throw shooting in the final 20 seconds earned Kendall a thrilling 67-64 victory over host Notre Dame in the Genesee Region League boys basketball season finale this evening.

Vinnie D’Agostino and CJ D’Agostino both made two pressure free throws in the final 20 seconds to earn the Eagles the narrow win.

CJ D’Agostino finished with a game high 24 points as Jonny Conte added 12, Noah Morehouse 10, Vinnie D’Agostino 8, Sammy Conte 7 and Ryan Gaesser 6.

TJ Cephus led the Irish with 16.

Kendall took an 18-13 first quarter lead but Notre Dame rallied back to grab a slender 30-28 advantage at the half.

The contest was deadlocked 49-49 at the end of the third period.

Kendall finishes the regular season at 14-6 and Notre Dame at 16-4.

Closing out the regular season on a high note, Lyndonville downed host Lima Christian 60-57 in a non league boys basketball game this evening.

Lane Woodworth scored 21, Colton Smith 13 and Quincy McClinsey 10 to lead the Tigers.

Lyndonville built up a 37-22 half-time advantage as Woodworth tallied 15 during that stretch.

Still up 48-37 at the three-quarter mark, the Tigers had to turn back a fourth quarter comeback bid by the Saints which had a 20-12 scoring edge down the stretch.

McClinsey scored 6, Lyric Raduns 3, Atticus Mank 2 and Smith 1 in the final stanza to help the Tigers close out which proved to be a narrow win.

Lyndonville will take a 5-15 record into the upcoming Section V Class D playoffs.

Pembroke 50, Holley 34
Avante Walker scored 17, Cam Mosier 8 and Blake Coleman 5 for Holley in the Hawks 50-34 regular season ending Genesee Region League loss to Pembroke at Oakfield-Alabama.