Alexander girls should be strong

 The Alexander girls basketball team returns four starters, have a foreign exchange student with some talent and are expected to make a run at a Genesee Region League title.

The Trojans went 9-12 last season, and were upset by Gananda in the opening round of the sectional tournament last season. 

Two of the stars in that game - Anna Dominick and Katie Kochmanski - are returning with fellow starters Rachel Pettys and Chelsea Turcer.

Dominick scored nine points per game with three steals and Pettys averaged eight points with seven rebounds. Turcer had five points and three dimes per game.

Pettys and Kochmanski were stars in the paint as Kochmanski pulled down a team-high nine rebounds to go with her seven points per game.

Rebounding is a huge part of coach Marcia Hirsch's coaching philosophy. She preaches rebounding first and foremost, with the belief that if you win the battle on the boards, you are probably going to win the game.

Even with those four returning players, you would expect the Trojans to have a pretty strong team. But they got a nice surprise when the season started.

Foreign exchange student Anni Lehtola from Finland, has a ton of game. The 5-foot-9 guard/forward is a strong rebounder, scorer and defender; which adds a huge boost to an already stacked team.

Alexander has already shown signs of what they can do.

In the opening round of the Attica Tournament last weekend, the Trojans were beating Class A Batavia before the Blue Devils came back late in the game and won 57-48. Alexander then went on to beat Attica 44-32 in the consolation game.

While Division I should be tough this year, Alexander might very well have the pieces in place to be the top dog in that division.