Alabama

 After blowing a lead and the game against Akron in the Genesee Region League/Niagara-Orleans League Showdown on Saturday, the Oakfield-Alabama boys basketball team was looking to end the season on a positive note before going into sectionals.

It was obvious that it was going to happen as the Hornets jumped out to a 17-3 lead in beating visiting Alexander 73-41 on senior night.

Senior stars Noah Seward and Brad Riner got O-A off to a 9-0 start right off the bat as Riner had five points and Seward four, just a couple of minutes into the contest.

Tim Smith scored seven straight points and all of a sudden the Hornets were ahead by 14 points with just 3 1/2 minutes gone off the clock.

Troy Shelnut ended the fierce O-A scoring with a 3-pointer, but Sam McCracken had four points and Seward added another bucket late in the opening frame to give the Hornets a 27-13 lead after a period of play.

McCracken had two quick baskets in the second quarter and Seward had four points, but Oakfield-Alabama played its worst of four quarters. Josh Athoe also hit a 3-pointer in the frame and O-A actually extended the lead to 38-19 despite not being happy with the way they played in the frame.

The "big 3" of Seward, Riner and Smith were able to rest for most of the fourth quarter, but all three contributed in the third.

Seward had six points, Smith had five and Riner hit a 3-pointer late in the quarter and the game was officially a blowout after the third quarter with Oakfield-Alabama leading 61-28.

Athoe had four points in the fourth quarter and O-A rolled to the 73-41 victory.

Seward had yet another double-double, scoring 14 points and pulling down 13 rebounds, with Riner helping out with eight points and 11 assists.

Smith scored 15 points and A.J. Kehlenbeck had 10 points with 13 boards. McCracken finished with 13 points and Athoe chipped in nine.

Kyle Woodruff had 14 points for Alexander, which ends the season with a 7-12 record.

Oakfield-Alabama improves to 17-3 and will be the third seed in the Section 5 Class C1 tournament and should be hosting Canisteo-Greenwood in the first round.

 It is often hard to choose MVPs because competition is typically so close in the Genesee Region League.

But this season it is pretty simple to pick the best player from each division as Oakfield-Alabama won Division I pretty easily and Notre Dame clinched Division II several games ago.

The Hornets are 16-3 and Noah Seward is a big reason why.

O-A would have still been in the running for the Division I title with solid players like Brad Riner and Tim Smith, but Seward was a problem for the other team in every game this season. The 6-foot-3 center/forward seemed like he had a double-double every time he got on the court. 

The only other player in Division I that I had in the running was Pembroke's Ken Babcock, who dominated at times this season in helping his team to second in the division. But Seward wrapped up the award in my mind when he scored 20 points and pulled down 12 rebounds when the Hornets clinched the title in a 61-39 win over the Dragons last week.

Kevin Francis was easily the MVP in Division II for the Fighting Irish, who are 15-3.

With several question marks as to which players were going to be regular contributors this season, Francis took on the role as quiet leader early in the season and helped the young players like Vinny Zambito and Matt Thompson find their niche on the team. 

His stats were also incredible as he was able to go off for 20 points on any given night at the point guard position while playing a well rounded game. Francis also distributed the ball, caused turnovers and grabbed rebounds.

 7:34 p.m. - About 15 minutes until tip-off and GCC is packed. Genesee Region League fans are pumped after Pembroke's big win and Ken Babcock's dominant performance and are pumped for the highlight game of the Showdown. All the talk has revolved around J.C. Tretter and Noah Seward, so down low is where the action will probably be.

8:04 p.m. - Tretter is as good as advertised. He might be the first player this season that has made Seward look small. He held O-A's big man to four points in the first quarter, while scoring eight points, but the Hornets are leading 13-12 after eight minutes. Tim Smith hit a 3-pointer with Chris Bucceri, , A.J. Kehlenbeck and Sam McCracken each getting a basket.

  8:18 p.m. - The Hornets were doing a good job keeping the ball away from Tretter as Seward had a big quarter, but Akron went on a 7-0 run near the end of the half to get back in the game.

Seward immediately started the second quarter with a bucket and free throw to put the Hornets up 16-12. McCracken had a foul shot and Josh Athoe drained a trifecta to put O-A ahead by eight points.

After Alec Short and Seward exchanged backets, Tretter had a soft layup and grabbed the rebound on a missed dunk attempt by Trevor Short and put that back in to cut the score to 22-19. Alec Short hit a jumper and it was a one point game before Seward scored the final basket to put O-A up 24-21 at halftime.

 8:43 p.m. - Akron made a late run in the third quarter and jumped right back into the game and only trails Oakfield-Alabama 38-37.

The Tigers were down six right away as Brad Riner drained a 3-pointer, but the teams exchanged baskets for a while with Akron cutting the deficit to 32-31 when Alec Short hit a trey halfway through the period.

A double-foul was called as Seward and Tretter were getting a little too physical in the paint on the next possession.

Riner and Athoe hit a back-to-back buckets to make the score 36-31, but Alec Short had two foul shots, Trevor Short scored and Ryan Peters finished off the period with a bucket.

9:08 p.m. - Akron scored the first basket and then trailed Oakfield-Alabama the rest of the way. That is until there was 1:09 left in the contest. 

The Hornets had a three point lead when Seward banged in a pair of foul shots with 5 1/2 minutes left. Tretter hit one to cut it to three points and a couple minutes later the game was stopped when an Akron player landed on Seward, knocking the wind out of him.

McCracken missed the front end of a one-and-one with 2 1/2 minutes left and Tretter put one in moments later to cut the deficit to 44-43. 

Then with 1:09 left in the game, Trevor Short received a pass at about the foul line and hit a turnaround jumper to put the Tigers up 45-44. Riner missed a shot at the other end and O-A got the rebound. This time the ball was poked away from Smith and the Hornets had to foul.

Trevor Short hit both free throws after getting fouled with 22 seconds left. McCracken took the inbounds pass for O-A and took it coast-to-coast for a basket with 15 seconds remaining. Akron had a 47-46 lead and the Hornets had to foul again.

Short again drained both free throws to put the Tigers up three. This time Riner missed a layup and Tretter grabbed his final rebound of the game.

The final score was Akron 49, Oakfield-Alabama 46.

Tretter and Seward each finished with 17 points in the battle of the big men. But the difference wound up being Short, who scored 15 points and was clutch in the closing minutes.

The Niagara-Orleans League won six games while the Genesee Region League had just two winners.

Oakfield-Alabama led a night in which the Genesee Region League didn't have a final score within single digits.

The Hornets destroyed visiting Holley 69-23 Thursday.

Noah Seward had a double-double with 19 points and 12 rebounds with A.J. Kehlenbeck pitching in 14 points. and Tyler Tamblin finishing with nine. Sam McCracken and Tim Smith scored seven points each.

Holley didn't have anybody score more than Eddie Bauer's six points. 

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Kevin Francis must have had a good time proving that he is the top guard in the league. He scored 27 points and had nine steals as Notre Dame trounced host Kendall 80-46. 

Vinny Zambito had 12 points and both Greg Barr and Nick Wetherwax added 10 points apiece for the Fighting Irish (13-3).

Kendall star Josh Laureano only managed 15 points while getting help from Colt Tooley, who scored 13. 

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The first quarter was ugly, with both teams scoring just five points.

But Attica had a 13-7 second quarter lead and went on to beat Byron-Bergen 47-34 at home.

Tate Westermeier had 15 points and eight rebounds with Craig Wolfley adding six points and eight boards. Shawn Dupuis had nine points.

Byron-Bergen (3-12) was led by Tess Schramm, who scored six points.

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Phil Ostroski scored 18 points to lead Elba to a 55-44 win over visiting Wheatland-Chili.

Dan Ramsey and Sonny Giuliano both scored 15 points for the Lancers (9-7).

Andy Lund scored 12 points with eight boards for the Wildcats (3-12).

 The new state rankings were just released and Oakfield-Alabama is back in the top 15 for Class C.

The Hornets (13-2) were in the top 15, but dropped out last week. They are back in the state rankings at No. 13 this week.

Batavia had dipped down into a tie for 25th last week but move up to No. 23 this week in Class A.

Notre Dame did not move up or down, remaining at No. 9 in Class D.

 The game might have been tight all the way through, but it looked like the Oakfield-Alabama girls were going to beat Notre Dame for the second time this season, on ND's home court.

The Hornets owned the paint and seemed to be in the right place at the right time for every loose ball. But the Fighting Irish battled in the closing minutes and came through with a huge 48-46 win.

Oakfield-Alabama took a 3-point lead with about five minutes left in the game when Hillary Bates scored a basket, making the score 40-37 in O-A's favor.

Notre Dame's Brittany Morelli answered with a bucket, but the lead was back to 3-points when Dani Sage scored at the other end. The Hornets had a chance to extend the lead when sophomore McKenzie Harris had a steal and was fouled going to the basket.

Unfortunately for the Hornets, she missed both free throw attempts.

Nichole Hart then made it a 1-point game with a basket seconds later.

After a turnover, Morelli scored with an and-1, giving the Fighting Irish a 44-42 lead with just under three minutes left in the game.

Christina Palillo tied the game with a basket on O-A's next possession, then was fouled on the team's next trip down the court. She hit both foul shots to give the Hornets a 46-44 advantage with just over two minutes left.

Again, it looked like O-A was going to win, just like they did in the consolation game of the Rotary Tournament.

But Notre Dame went inside the paint on the following possession, giving the ball to 6-foot sophomore Liz Geandreau, who was fouled while trying to get a shot off. She tied the score with two free throws.

Nobody scored for almost a minute and a half, but Morelli got to the foul line with 39 seconds left. She hit both attempts to give the Fighting Irish the two-point advantage.

The Hornets had one last shot with just seconds left on the clock, but missed a 3-pointer and couldn't get the rebound.

Morelli scored 11 of her 15 points in the second half and Jill Marshall pitched in 14 points for the Fighting Irish, who improve to 7-3. Nichole Hart had 12 points.

Brynn Perfitt continues to be a strong scoring option for Oakfield-Alabama (6-6), scoring 11 points. Hillary Bates scored a team-high 12 points and Palillo pitched in eight points.

It's always a good time when Oakfield-Alabama and Caledonia-Mumford get to play each other in the finals of the Cal-Mum Christmas Tournament.

Cal-Mum coach Dan Dickens is an O-A grad.

But that isn't going to happen this year as the Hornets blew a 22-7 first quarter lead against Marion and then went on to lose 68-66 in the opening round.

Sal Iannello had 30 points and eight boards to lead Marion, which improves to 4-0. Brad Le Fevre pitched in 17 points with 11 rebounds.

Noah Seward had 14 points to lead O-A, with A.J. Kehlenbeck getting 13 and Tim Smith adding 12. The Hornets are now 5-1 and will be playing in the consolation game tomorrow.

UPDATE: Well, it looks like Marion will be facing the host squad in the finals. Cal-Mum had a 22-15 advantage in the fourth quarter and beat York 57-51.

Jeremy Wilson had 11 points and Chris Voos added eight in the crucial period. Wilson finished with 11 points and Voos 12. Sean Ancker pulled down 10 rebounds for the Red Raiders (3-2).

Travis Nash had 22 points for York (4-4). 

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The Batavia hockey team lost in the opening round of the Scottsville Tournament in a close game with Brighton/East Rochester/Honeoye Falls-Lima.

Brighton/ER/HF-L outshot the Blue Devils 29-28 and won the game 3-2.

Batavia goalie Rich Paganello had 26 saves.

 With Pembroke and Oakfield-Alabama as the talks of Division I in the Genesee Region League at the start of the season, Wednesday's early season contest was obviously a key one.

The Hornets have established themselves as the team to beat after thumping the Dragons 76-43 to improve to 5-0.

They keys to the win were as simple as playing an up-tempo style of defense designed to keep Pembroke's Andrew Wright from getting good looks and limiting Andy Gabbey's 3-point attempts.

Mission accomplished.

Wright was held to just 12 points and Gabbey did not connect on a basket in the contest.

After Ken Babcock and Wright had consecutive baskets early in the game, O-A's Brad Riner hit his second 3-pointer to tie the score at 8.

Babcock and Noah Seward exchanged buckets, then Seward added a couple more before Tim Smith scored seven points to give the Hornets a 23-12 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Riner hit another 3-pointer and then A.J. Kehlenbeck dropped in a basket to make it 30-20 midway through the second quarter.

Pembroke got within six, but Seward had consecutive baskets and Smith hit another 3-pointer to give O-A the 37-24 lead at intermission.

The Hornets quickly made the game a 50-26 blowout in the third quarter with Chris Bucceri, Smith and Riner having big periods.

Smith had 14 points and Seward added 12 points and 13 rebounds for the Hornets, who are 3-0 in the league and 5-0 overall. Riner had 13 points and Chris Bucceri pitched in eight points and seven dimes.

Babcock had 11 points and Steve Moser added 10 points for the Dragons (4-3).

I was just checking out the first edition of the Democrat & Chronicle polls for winter sports, and I'm very confused by the small school boys basketball one.

This is the poll in question.

Small schools
Rank/team
1. Bishop Kearney
2. Finney
3. Letichworht
4. Wellsviell
5. Oakfield-Alabama
6. Penn Yan
7. Dansville
8. Gananda
9. Dundee
10. Livonia
(tie) Marion

(not typos, this is directly from the D&C Web site)

I think the D&C does a great job with high school sports coverage, but I'm one of the first people to always question the lack of small school athletes that make the All-Greater Rochester teams. There is proof that they focus on the larger schools with these rankings.

First off, Letchworth is 4-1 and has a very good basketball team. I have the utmost respect for coach Tim McMullen. But how do they get a No. 3 ranking?

The Indians have a loss and are one of four Livingston Conference teams to make the top 10. Livingston is a decent basketball league, but the Genesee Region League is probably much stronger this season.

The only GR squad to make the list is Oakfield-Alabama at No. 5. The Hornets are stacked this season and are off to a 4-0 start. Surely the Hornets deserve to be ranked higher than Letchworth.

And I don't see how Notre Dame can be totally left off this top 10 list.

The Fighting Irish have only played two games, but have won both in blowout fashion and are a very talented and deep team. Notre Dame is also one of the best teams in the history of Section 5, so I don't see how they can be left off.

The other glaring exception is Batavia, which is ranked sixth in the small school wrestling poll. If Batavia is considered a small school, then they should be right near the top of this list. As good as the top teams on that list are, if they have to play the Blue Devils, they are probably going to lose. Batavia plays schools like Pittsford Sutherland, Pittsford Mendon and Victor, and just won a tournament with two defending state champions.

D&C does a lot of things well, but these rankings basically forget that Genesee County is on the map.

Stacy Hein hit four critical foul shots in the last two minutes and scored eight points to lead the Batavia girls basketball team to a 42-38 win over host Victor Friday, recovering from its first loss of the season earlier this week.

Brittany Wormley led the squad with 13 points and Brittany Mazurkiewicz followed with 11 points and seven assists.

Jaycee Shirk had six points and eight boards for the Blue Devils (5-1).

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 Anni Lehtola, the foreign exchange student from Finland, had another big game for Alexander, scoring 19 points to lead the Trojans to a 57-47 win over Pembroke.

Katie Kochmanski pitched in 11 points while Anna Dominick and Nicki Laird added eight points apiece.

Kelsey Lewis led the Dragons (2-2) with 14 points, seven rebounds and seven steals. Nicole Sharick scored a team-high 15 points.

Alexander is 3-1.

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Brynn Perfett was the leading scorer for Oakfield-Alabama with 11 points as the Hornets improved to 3-1 with a 46-28 win over Holley.

Dani Sage had seven points and 11 rebounds and Lindsay Chatt pitched in seven points.

Julie Brooks had 11 points for the Hawks (1-3).

 The Oakfield-Alabama girls basketball team only lost two games last season. Unfortunately, the second came in the Section 5 Class CCC semifinals, where Honeoye had a 10-2 advantage in the fourth quarter to knock off the Hornets 39-29.

Three Genesee Region League all-stars graduated from that team, but three players that had significant playing time return and step into leadership roles as O-A looks to repeat as the Division I champions. The team had a 20-2 record last year.

Senior guard Hillary Bates is the top returning scorer at 4.5 points per game and will probably be the top scoring option. She will be a score-first point guard after earning GR honorable mention status last in 2007-2008.

The other senior on the team is Dani Sage, who scored four points per game last year and will play small forward.

Junior Lindsay Chatt also scored about four points per game and will start at guard as well. 

Sam Kidder was the leading scorer for the Hornets last season at 13.3 points per game and the three aforementioned players will be looking to take much of the scoring responsibility.

Junior guard Brynn Perfitt was called up at the end of the season and had success putting the ball in the basket, and could also be somebody that handles the scoring duties.

Jeff Schlagenhauf - last year's Coach of the Year - has a team that looks very different than a year ago. The Hornets didn't have a single player over 5-foot-9 last season, but have a bunch of size this year and could look to pound the ball into the paint.

Sarah Scarborough is over 6-foot tall and Christina Palillo also has size, so O-A will be able to play a more physical style of play this season.

Schlagenhauf believes this year's squad has as much potential as last year's, but might take a little time to play together before reaching its full potential.

 Last year's Oakfield-Alabama basketball team was very good.

The Hornets went 20-3 last season, with the final loss coming to East Rochester in the sectional semifinals.

That team had a ton of talent, with James Davis and John Gerber graduating after the season. But, Davis missed a lot of time due to injury, and essentially four starters return to the squad to try to capture a GR title for a second straight year and finally win a sectional championship for the school.

The biggest name on the roster, not just because of his size, is Noah Seward. The big man averaged a double-double last season, scoring 11 points with 10 rebounds per game. He's had three years on varsity and is expected to be a premier player in the post this season.

Brad Riner may not have Seward's size, but he's just as tough. Both were stars on the very successful football team and Riner will run the point for the Hornets.

He is a defensive-minded player that will look to turn defense into offense, while distributing the ball like a true point guard is expected to. He has plenty of varsity experience and will also score when needed.

Guard Tim Smith won't admit it, but he's going to be expected to pitch in on the scoring end of things. While Davis and Gerber were the focus of the offense when they were on the floor, Smith managed to have some pretty solid games putting the ball in the hoop.

Expect him to be a big part of the offensive gameplan. A.J. Kehlenbeck is a big body with the ability to play solid defense and put the ball in the basket.

Oakfield-Alabama also has plenty of depth, with several players returning from last years team and newcomers that were on the 20-0 jayvee squad last season.

The only really big change you will see from the Hornets is at the top as Gary Kurkowski returns to coach the varsity squad because Merritt Holly stepped down. Kurkowski has been a part of the program for a very long time, coaching at every level.

His coaching style is very similar to Holly, so there won't be a big change. But many of the players respect his old school approach to the game.

The only way to top the Division I title and semifinal appearance of a year ago will be a championship, which is a long term goal for O-A. First the squad must get through a tough regular season and mesh as a unit - with a few players still banged up from football season.

 Oakfield-Alabama grad James Davis missed much of his senior season with an injury, but has gotten off to a nice start at D'Youville College.

The freshman started the first two games this season, scoring six points per game. He has averaged 31 minutes per contest while 2 1/2 rebounds and four assists per game.

D'Youville is 0-2 to start the season, but Davis is one of five freshman hoping to turn the program around.

A pair of local athletes suffered some pretty serious injuries during the Section 5 playoffs and I've got updates on both.

Attica's Andy Ruddock was knocked out of the Class B semifinals contest with Bath. He had some tests last week and tore his ACL. He will be in a cast for six weeks and hopefully can get back to playing football in the future.

(UPDATE: Ruddock actually went to the doctor today and received some great news. What was thought to be a torn ACL, is actually a stress fracture in his tibia. He will be in a brace for two weeks while doing rehab. The injury is significantly less severe and he will be just fine for baseball season)

Oakfield-Alabama's Tim Smith was knocked out of the Class C title game when trying to tackle Le Roy's Travis Fenstermaker. The hit looked very serious and Smith was in rough shape. He was diagnosed with a concussion and did not return to the game. Coach John Dowd confirmed that he is doing well and should be good to go for basketball season.