Photos by Cheryl Wertman – Albion’s Honesty Little puts up a shot against Barker defenders Lauren Sparrer and Rachel Parfinski during the host Lady Eagles win this evening.

Jumping out to a 14-0 first quarter lead, Albion went on to defeat visiting Barker 46-22 this evening in a Niagara-Orleans League game.

Two fast break layups by Brylie Hapeman led a parade of seven point getters for Albion during the decisive opening quarter.

Albion’s Sydney Mulka tries to grab a rebound ahead of Barker’s Rachel Parfinski.

Natale Lathrop finished with 12 points and Hapeman 10 for Albion as Paige Derisley added 9, Lexi Wolck 5, Honesty Little 3, Sarah Gregori, Kirsten Struble and Sydney Mulka 2 and Kendall Derisley 1.

Sydnie Luckman led Barker with 10 as Gabby Baker had 7, Rachel Parfinski and Kylie Annable 2 and Bailey Sutch 1.

Albion went on to hold leads of 25-10 at the half and 42-17 at the thee-quarter mark.

Albion, which next visits Medina in a makeup game at 11:30 a.m. Saturday, improves to 7-2 in the league while Barker slips to 1-9.

In the other N-O games, Wilson completed a 12-0 title season with a 44-35 win over rival Newfane (2-8) and Akron (6-4) nipped Roy-Hart (1-10) 52-50. Skylar Munnikhuysen led Wilson with 11 while Madalyn Traverse tallied 12 and Lauren Boudeman 10 for Newfane. Rileigh McCabe led R-H with 15 as Maddie Fry added 9 and Shelby Wolf 8.

Notre Dame 64, Lyndonville 25
Notre Dame raced out to a 20-0 first period lead in route to scoring a 64-25 win over host Lyndonville in a Genesee Region League game.

Callie McCully scored 26 and Stevie Wilcox 12 to spark Notre Dame which led 36-5 at the half.

Alecia Hinkson scored 8 and Lorelei Dillenbeck 6 for Lyndonville.

Barker’s Gabby Baker goes in for a layup as Natalie Lathrop and Lexi Wolck defend for Albion.

The defending sectional champion Medina High Unified bowling team opened its season with a pair of victories this week 9-0 over Olmsted and 7-2 over Iroquois.

This year’s team includes Tom Biaselli, Steven Secore, Jackson Touhey, Joe Biaselli, Juliana Allis, Gracie Mahnke, Emma Carson, Arian Cayea, Zachary Fike, Morgan Crossett and Gracie Cogovan.

In the win over Olmsted, the Mustangs got strong starts from Allis, Gracie Mahnke, Tuohey and Tom Biaselli along with great finishes from Secore, Joe Biaselli, Crossett and Carson.

In the hard fought win over Iroquois at Lancaster the Mustangs had some great shot making from Tom Biaselli, Crossett, Gracie Cogovan. Secore, Fike and Cayea.

“It is a great group of kids who work very hard to improve themselves not only in bowling but also in life skills of sportsmanship, self confidence and teamwork,” said Coach Rob Dennis. “And the friendships they make will last a life time.”

The Mustangs next match is at Medina Lanes at 4 p.m. Tuesday.

Oakfield-Alabama trimmed host Holley 47-40 this evening in a Genesee Region League game.

Travis Wiedrich and Joe Burdick each scored 9 points and Aidan Johnston 8 to spark the balanced attack for Oakfield-Alabama which led 25-22 at the half and 35-29 at the three-quarter mark.

Carson Major took game high scoring honors for Holley with 17 as Kohl Morgan grabbed off 13 rebounds.

In a Niagara-Orleans League game, Akron (4-6) downed Roy-Hart (1-9) 61-50.

Adam Mietz took game high scoring honors with 21 and Aiden Smith added 13 to lead the way for Akron.

Mark Sanders scored 15 and Gavyn Boyle 10 for Roy-Hart.

In a non league contest, host Buffalo Science defeated Medina 74-38.

In a non league girls game, host Lew-Port downed Medina 54-29.

Kharise Johnson scored 7 and Jarielys Flores-Medina 6 for Medina.

Photos by Cheryl Wertman – Lyndonville’s Nathan Hydock puts up a shot against Notre Dame defender Keith Szczepanski during the Tigers narrow Genesee Region League loss to the host Irish this evening.

A big fourth quarter rally fell just short as Lyndonville dropped a narrow 69-67 decision to host Notre Dame this evening in a Genesee Region League boys basketball game.

Trailing by 12, 60-48, early in the final period, Lyndonville came storming back.

The Tigers put together a clutch 19-6 scoring burst to rally into the lead at 67-66 on a three-point play by Nathan Hydock with 43 second s to go.

Hydock, in fact, spearheaded that huge Tigers comeback big as he scored 14 of the 19 points including three jumpers, a pair of three point plays and a pair of free throws. The uprising also included a three by Zach Johnson and a layup by Nathan Poler.

Gabe MacDonald drives in for a layup for Notre Dame.

However, the Tigers were unable to build on their slender one point lead at the free throw line and the Irish answered back with what proved to be the game winning three-point basket by Spencer Misiti with 16 second to go. That put Notre Dame back on top to stay at 69-67 as Lyndonville was unable to score on its last trip up court.

Gabe MacDonald scored 19, Zach Cocking 15, Andrew Moore 12, Keith Szczepanski 9, Misiti 8, Colin McCulley 3 and Lucas Calcaro 3 for the Irish.

Poler finished with 19, Hydock 15, Johnson 14, Nathan Dillenbeck 13, Russell Stephens 4 and Matt Hess 2 for the Tigers.

Notre Dame jumped out to a 16-11 lead at the end of the opening quarter and upped the advantage to 10, 29-19, midway through the second period after a 7-0 run on a rebound bucket and jumper by Moore and a three-point play by MacDonald.

Lyndonville though battled back putting together a 15-2 run to rally into  34-31 lead.  Back-to-back threes by Johnson and Dillenbeck ignited that uprising which also included two baskets by Poler and another three by Johnson.

Notre Dame though answered back with back-to-back threes by Cocking and Calarco to regain a 37-34 lead at the half.

The Irish then outscored the Tigers 20-12 in the third period, including three baskets by both Moore and MacDonald, to increase the advantage to 11, 57-46, at the three-quarter mark.

A three by Misiti upped the Irish lead to 12, 60-48, early in the final stanza. That set the stage for the big Hydock led Tigers rally which came up just short.

Lyndonville is now 10-2 in the league and 15-2 overall while Notre Dame is 7-5 in the league.

Needing one win to clock up the G-R Division II title, Lyndonville will close out the league campaign by hosting Wheatland-Chili at 5 p.m. Saturday in a makeup game and Kendall at 7 p.m. Monday.

Lyndonville’s Zach Johnson blocks a shot attempt by Notre Dame’s Andrew Moore.

Contributed Photo – Chase Pecoraro

Medina High graduate Chase Pecoraro had a big day for the Utica College men’s indoor track team at the college’s Blue and Orange Invitational this past weekend.

Pecoraro, who is a junior at Utica, placed third in the Heptathlon as he won both the High Jump and Pole Vault in the competition.

He is majoring in Health Studies.

Avenging two earlier defeats, the RoyHart/Barker/Medina/Akron Club hockey team defeated East Aurora- Holland Wednesday evening at home by a 6-5 score.

Jason Kuchey (R-H) led the winners with four goals and an assist, with Nick Wood (Ak) netting the other two scores including the game winner at the 6:28 mark of the final period.

Things started poorly for RBM as they fell behind 2-0 in the first two minutes of the game. However, they were able to tie the game by the end of the opening period on goals by Wood and Kuchey with assists from Rhett Wagner (M), Dylan Krzykowski (Ak), Michael Kuchey (R-H) and Dominic Peracciny (R-H).

The second period saw just one goal by each team. RBM’s score was an unassisted breakaway goal by Jason Kuchey which evened the score at the end of the period.

That set up an exciting third period with EA-H taking the lead 4-3, only to have Jason Kuchey tie the score on his second unassisted score.

Later, Jason Kuchey put RBM in the lead, again with assists from Wagner and Krzykowski, but EA-H tied the game once again with a short- handed goal.

Finally, Wood iced the victory with his second goal and assists going to Krzykowski and Jason Kuchey.

Now 5-10-1, RBM finishes the regular season with games Friday and Saturday evening against Canisius and Jamestown.

Staying perfect at 24-0, the Niagara County Community College women’s basketball team rolled to a 90-63 victory over Mercyhurst NE this evening.

Leading the way for the Thunderwolves were Kenetria Redfern (Cheektowaga) with 23 points, 15 rebounds; Paige Emborsky (Newfane) 22 points, 6 rebounds; Shilah Parker (Cardinal O’Hara) 21 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists; Molly Mahony (Lancaster) 16 points, 7 rebounds and Ellie Todd (Roy-Hart) 4 points.

In the men’s game, NCCC defeated Mercyhurst NE 98-68. Nate Luckman (Barker) led the Thunderwolves with 18 points.

Photo by Cheryl Wertman – Lyndonville will visit Notre Dame in a key Genesee Region League game on Thursday. Here in action from the earlier season meeting, Lyndonville’s Matt Hess puts up a shot against Notre Dame defender Zach Cocking.

Now in the division title race drivers seat, Lyndonville will visit Notre Dame in a key Genesee Region League Division II game at 7 p.m. Thursday.

Lyndonville is currently 10-1 in the league (5-0 in Division II) and 15-1 overall while Division II runner-up Elba is 9-3 n the league (3-3 in the division) and third place Notre Dame is 6-5.

Following the game at Notre Dame, Lyndonville will close out the G-R campaign by hosting Wheatland-Chili at 5 p.m. Saturday in a makeup game and Kendall at 7 p.m. Monday.

Lyndonville opened up a two game lead as the result of Kendall’s 57-53 home court win over Elba on Tuesday.

The Tigers posted a 72-58 win over the Irish early in the season at Lyndonville.

Mustangs to visit Purple Eagles
Three-time defending champion Medina will look to maintain a one game lead in the Niagara-Orleans League title race when the Mustangs visit rival Albion in a makeup game at 11:30 a.m. Saturday.

Medina is currently 9-0 in the league (14-2 overall) and one game ahead of Wilson (8-1) which bested Albion 57-51 on Tuesday dropping the Purple Eagles to 4-4 in N-O action. Medina also visits Buffalo Science in a non league game Thursday while Albion also visits Barker at 7 p.m. Friday.

Following the Albion game, Medina will close out the N-O season by hosting Akron on February 12  and then visiting Wilson in a key showdown finale on February 14.

In N-O girls basketball, Medina (7-3, 10-6)) will host Albion (6-2, 9-7) at 11:30 Saturday morning in a makeup game. Medina also visits Lew-Port in a non league game at 6:30 p.m. Thursday while Albion will also host Barker at 7 p.m. Friday.

Akron sweeps Barker

Akron swept to a pair of N-O basketball victories over Barker this evening in makeup contests.

In the boys game, Akron (3-6) defeated Barker (0-9) 59-25 as Mitchell Holtz scored 21 and Adam Mietz 14.

In the girls contest, Akron (5-4) downed Barker (1-8) 48-26 as Jessee Jonathan scored 13 and Darion Jonathan 12. Sydnie Luckman scored 13 for Barker.

Contributed Photo – Members of the Roy-Hart girls swim team celebrate after capturing top honors at the annual Niagara-Orleans League vs. Genesee Region League meet on Tuesday at Gates-Chili.

Setting five school records along the way, Roy-Hart captured top honors at the annual Niagara-Orleans League vs. Genesee Region League girls swim meet held Tuesday evening at Gates-Chili High School.

Roy-Hart garnered a total of 356.5 points to win the meet team title as H-A-C finished second and Akron third.

Mandy Hill was an individual event double winner for Roy-Hart taking the 200 Free in a school record time of 2:00.99 and the 100 Butterfly.

Kayla Hagen set a pair of Roy-Hart individual event school records with second place finishes in both the 100 Free (:54.53) and 100 Backstroke (1:04.14).

The Channel Cats also got a second place finish by Madison Ohol in the 500 Free.

Hagen and Hill also teamed up with Jenna Heiser and Kennedy Lang to win the 200 Freestyle Relay in a school and meet record time of 1:45.05.

In addition, Hagen, Hill, Heiser and Ohol combined to set a new school and N-O League record time in the 400 Freestyle Relay with a second place finish in 3:50.25.

“It was a great night. I’m really proud of then,” said Roy-Hart Coach Dottie Barr.

Medina’s Hannah Heil placed second in the 50 Free and third in the 100 Free.