Will Mulcahy scored twice as the Batavia hockey team beat Churchville-Chili 3-1Tuesday at Scottsville.
Mulcahy has 10 goals and seven assists on the season.
Pat Finnell also scored for the Blue Devils (11-6-1). Finnell is seventh in all of the Monroe County League with 14 goals. He also has 20 assists and is the third leading scorer in the league.
Nick Gorino scored for Churchville-Chili and Adam Kurek had 11 saves for Batavia.
With the state possibly cutting games next season, this may be the last time Letchworth and Attica play. The tradition has gone on for years.
It was the Indians that came away with the victory because of a pair of runs that ended with a 44-39 victory.
The first half had zero entertainment value as the score was tied at 18 when the second quarter buzzer went off. Some people called it ugly basketball, but I'm going with a good defensive battle.
Travis Tones hit two big 3-pointers early in the third quarter, with a Cam McLaughlin bucket thrown in the mix.
Letchworth had a seven point lead before Tate Westermeier had a basket, Bryan Thompson scored and Westermeier drained a 3-pointer to have his team trailing just 31-29 after three periods of play.
The was back-and-forth in the final frame, but Jim Przybylak hit a 3-pointer and Tones hit one of two foul shots.
Attica had to start fouling after that and Tones hit 7 of his 8 attempts in the fourth quarter.
Tones finished the day with 20 points and McLaughlin had six points with eight rebounds. Przybylak finished with nine for the Indians (12-2).
Westermeier scored 17 points to lead the Blue Devils (6-7), who have been in a slump since the Christmas break.
Craig Wolfley might have had his most solid performance thus far in the season, scoring six points and grabbing 11 rebounds.
Notre Dame may have suffered a difficult loss, but guard Kevin Schildwaster was named Player of the Week for Genesee Region League Division II.
Schildwaster won two of three games this week, and has had a big week playing defense. He also had a season-high 13 points against Prattsburgh.
Byron-Bergen's 6-foot-6 forward David Garnish won the honor for Division I. He averaged 7.5 points, 9.5 rebounds and two blocks this past week.
Alexander's Rachel Pettys had a total of 18 points, 24 rebounds, eight assists, 12 steals and six blocked shots in a win over Lyndonville and a loss to Elba. She earned GR Player of the Week for Division I.
Kendall's Meghan Fahy scored 41 points and had 12 boards in two games last week. The Eagles lost to Oakfield-Alabama by just one point and her free throw shooting was a big reason why. Fahy hit 11-of-12 from the charity stripe.
Batavia grad Adam Brasky and his King's College basketball team fell to 8-8 after a 66-63 loss to FDU-Florham over the weekend.
The team is just 1-7 in the division, but has a 7-1 record out of the division.
Brasky - a sophomore guard - has played in all 16 game while averaging 2.4 points and 1.7 rebounds per game.
He is playing almost 18 minutes and has handed out 20 assists this season.
In John Moriello's blog today, he is talking money and sports.
New York has already lost the Empire State Games as Hudson Valley said there was no way they could host the game this summer if athletes are going to be forced to play $300 each to participate and there will be cuts in some of the "smaller sports".
The New York State Public High School Athletic Association is also looking into cuts, a story that was broken on The Batavian. There is talks of regionalizing state games, eliminating the amount of games played in the regular season and post season for some sports and cutting down on the amount of champions in individual sports.
Moriello thinks that the NYSPHSAA is moving too fast:
More often, however, issues are resolved incrementally and painfully. Quick, easy fixes just do not exist.
That's where the state of New York stands today. The economic downturn has shredded the economy, and elected officials in Albany face a deficit in excess of $15 billion in next year's budget. Among the casualties is the education budget, with proposed state aid being pared back considerably from what local school districts were anticipating when they started the annual planning process in the fall.
And that has everything to do with why the executive committee of the state Public High School Athletic Association will vote on more than a dozen cost-cutting proposals at its quarterly meeting at the end of the week.
The NYSPHSAA officials are trying to be proactive in dealing with financial issues. They rightly recognize that cuts are coming in virtually all aspects of the education budget and want to take the initiative in setting priorities and finding solutions lest someone not as well informed try doing it for them. That's their right, and I would even say it's their responsibility.
Moriello also talks about the cost of teams that travel to our border states for games. It is a good read, well worth checking out.
We did a post earlier in the week on a basketball team that beat another one - from a school that teaches kids with mental disabilities - 100-0.
At the time, school officials from Covenant School had issued an apology. Apparently coach Micah Grimes had no part of that according to the Associated Press.
The coach of a Texas high school basketball team that beat another team 100-0 was fired Sunday, the same day he sent an e-mail to a newspaper saying he will not apologize "for a wide-margin victory when my girls played with honor and integrity.
The school even issued a statement on its Web site saying "It is shameful and an embarrassment that this happened. This clearly does not reflect a Christlike and honorable approach to competition"
Grimes sent an e-mail to the The Dallas Morning News saying he does not agree with the school's apology.
"In response to the statement posted on The Covenant School Web site, I do not agree with the apology or the notion that the Covenant School girls basketball team should feel embarrassed or ashamed," Grimes wrote in the e-mail, according to the newspaper. "We played the game as it was meant to be played. My values and my beliefs would not allow me to run up the score on any opponent, and it will not allow me to apologize for a wide-margin victory when my girls played with honor and integrity."
Alexander played in the Newark Varsity tournament on the Sunday before MLK day and came away with a solid performance. Alexander started the day with a 2-1 win over Gananda with goals from Anna Dominick and Julia Pettys with Gabby Kwiatek picking up an assist. Alexander then beat North Rose Wolcott 1-0 on a goal from Dominick. In the final game of the round robin Alexander fell to Pal-Mac 1-0. Alexander was the 2nd seed from their group and Pal-Mac was the top seed with a 3-0 record.
In the other bracket Addison cruised to a 3-0 record and the top seed while Newark was 2-1 with their only loss a 3-0 beating from Addison.
Alexander and Addison played in the semi-finals and Addison jumped out to a 1-0 lead. Dominick tied it at one but Addison took the kickoff and went right down the floor and fired a shot in to go ahead 2-1. Alexander was unable to come back again and feel 2-1. Newark then beat Pal-Mac 1-0 in the other semi-final and in the rematch from the earlier in the day Addison won 1-0 in OT.
Alexander's roster was Sopomore keeper Hannah Wilson, Junior defender Jamie Neth, Sophomore defender Savannah VanSon, 8th grade defender Gabby Kwiatek, Sophomore midfielders Autumn Atkinson and Tessa Bigelow, Junior forward Anna Dominick, Sophomore forwards Megan Schmieder and Morgan Mattice, and 9th grade forward Julia Pettys.
Saturday was quite an experience for me.
I've taken a bus ride with the Batavia basketball team before, but this one with Notre Dame was completely different and was a ton of fun, even though the team lost to Prattsburgh 70-64.
I live less than 10 minutes walking from Notre Dame, so I decided to walk to the school. As soon as I got in the building, coach Mike Rapone was doing a walk-through with his squad.
Prattsburgh and Notre Dame make trips each year to play together and their home courts and it is always a great game, with the home team usually winning.
We then got on the bus and it took exactly two hours to get to Prattsburgh, which is a great town that is old time. The buildings on the main street are from the way-back and the people there are just good folks.
The ride there was a lot of fun.
The kids from Notre Dame know how to bust each other's chops. There was the ribbing of Tommy Rapone on his Pokeman fetish, the gum wrapper belt put on Rick Lair when he fell asleep and just a lot of goofing off.
But when the Fighting Irish arrived at Prattsburgh, it was all business. I had some business to attend to, visiting friends from Notre Dame and Section 5 Talksback that made the trip.
I watched the jayvee game with the varsity squad for the third quarter, then midway through the fourth I went down with coach Rapone to hear his pregame speech.
Rapone is not a yeller and not a big ra-ra coach. He's one of those guys that has been around long enough to know everything the other team is going to do and he ran through it with his kids. He knew what players on the Vikings did and what to do if they pressed or went box-and-1 on Kevin Francis.
Notre Dame jumped out to a quick 15-6 lead in the first quarter. But Francis picked up his second foul and had to sit down, and that's when the flow of the game changed. Prattsburgh took advantage of arguably the Genesee Region League's best player being on the bench and wound up leading 34-27 at the half.
There was nobody on ND that could rebound in the second half and Prattsburgh was dropping 3-pointers like crazy. Patrick Wightman scored 21 points and hit five 3-pointers and Ryan Caron scored a game-high 29 points.
The crowd was totally into the game, with fans from both sides cheering when big things happened.
When the game ended and Notre Dame took it on the chin, Rapone gave his post game speech and basically told his team what they did wrong and hopes that they learn from the mistakes made in this game and become a better team from the loss.
Then the two teams, coaching staffs and all of the media and some locals that were there got together to enjoy pizza, subs and cookies together. It is a tradition that when the two teams play that they get together afterwards and enjoy and meal.
This is not done with any other rivalries as far as I know. Very cool.
As we loaded the bus to go home, I was expecting a depressing ride and kids sleeping. Yes, some were depressed and yes some slept, but it wound up being as much fun as the two hour ride there.
It started with Greg Barr leading a chorus singing songs from cartoon movies of the past. I could not stop laughing.
Then those that were not sleeping, gathered around my seat to talk and hang out. The conversation was good and everybody got a preview of the video, seeing the footage I took on the bus ride up.
There is a sad point that I must end on. The New York State Public High School Athletic Association is attempting to cut the amount of games that a team can play in a season.
That would mean Notre Dame would play it's regular season games and then have three open slots. They aren't going to back out of the Lions Club tournament, which only allows them to play one extra non-league game. This very well might be the end of a great rivalry and tradition that has lasted for many years. Rapone and Prattsburgh coach Jim Burke are both over 500 career wins and good friends.
The kids enjoy playing each other and making the long trips.
But it looks like a great tradition is over.
From the Batavia Muckdogs:
The Genesee County Baseball Club will hold its annual Batavia Muckdogs Hot Stove dinner and auction on Friday, February 20, 2009, from 5:30 p.m.-8:30 p.m. at the Batavia Party House at 5762 East Main Street Road in Stafford.
The dinner, a highlight of the winter for the local baseball faithful, arrives during an off-season of great optimism for Batavia fans: The Muckdogs were the 2008 New York –Penn League champs, the first time Batavia has won the league title since 1963; and the coming season will be the second in which the team is operated under a cooperative agreement with the highly respected Rochester Community Baseball, owner of the Rochester Red Wings.
The Hot Stove Dinner is a time for good food, friendship, baseball talk, and silent and live auctions of mostly baseball-related memorabilia. Items to be auctioned this year include autographed baseballs, bats, and photographs; work by noted local artists John Hodgins and Don Carmichael and woodworker Clyde Starkweather; and gift certificates from a variety of local restaurants.
Tickets cost $25 ($15 for children 12 and under) and may be purchased in Batavia at Dwyer Stadium, the Holland Land Office, Gerace’s Hair Care, the Williams Law Firm, and the office of Dr. Ross Fanara, and in Oakfield from the office of Dr. Alan Barcomb.
Anni Lehtola has mad game.
She is 17 years old and has been playing club basketball in her home town of Tampere, Finland for a decade. But she loves to travel and wanted to spend a school year in America, specifically New York.
She was placed at Alexander, which was a great surprise for coach Marcia Hirsch. Out of the blue, a solid returning group got a superstar. Lehtola has average just under 17 points with six rebounds and two assists per game as the Trojans are currently 9-3.
Many teams that return four quality seniors and a few juniors that can put in serious minutes and contribute would be mad that somebody comes in and takes a starting position away.
But that is definitely not the case with the Trojans. The girls all play well with Lehtola, who fit in right away, and Hirsch has developed a good relationship with her. The two spend most of their time together busting each other's chops. There is tremendous team chemistry with the entire Alexander squad.
In Finland, you don't play for a high school team, so Lehtola and other people that want to play basketball must try out for club teams, which is very competitive. She was one of the top players on her team.
There are high school teams, kind of.
Each high school will develop a team that gets together three times per week (in addition to her five days a week of club) that practices three times per week. And club goes on all year round.
Lehtola was placed with Keith and Wendy Jensen and has enjoyed being with her adopted family.
The girl that loves to travel had a chance to visit New York City, which has been a highlight of her visit to America.
There is one drawback for Lehtola, but she doesn't mind. Because she went to the U.S.A for a year, she loses a year of high school in Finland. So she'll go back to her home country and have two more years of high school.
She will continue to play with her club squad and practice with her high school team. Then she will either go to college, and she's thinking about coming back to America for school. She might also stay in Finland, where she wants to earn a law degree.
There is also the potential of her playing professional basketball in Finland, Spain or Italy.
But that is not what she is thinking about right now. She wants to lead the currently top-seeded Trojans to a sectional championship and bring that patch back home.
Notre Dame jumped out to a 15-6 lead to start the game.
As strange as this sounds, that might have been a bad thing. The Fighting Irish started relaxing and couldn't grab a rebound and Prattsburgh was getting all the boards and hitting a lot of shots and came away with a 70-64 win.
The Vikings won by six points, but the game was far from that close.
After the Irish opened the 9-point lead to start the game, star guard Kevin Francis got into foul trouble and sat for a good portion of the second quarter.
That was when Prattsburgh took over.
Notre Dame led 21-12 at the end of the first, but wound up trailing 34-27 at halftime.
Ryan Caron may have played the game of his life for the Vikings, with 29 points. He scored seven of those points in the second period as Prattsburgh dominated.
Patrick Wightman hit two 3-pointers and had another basket in the frame. Wightman finished with 21 points, including five 3-pointers.
It looked good for Notre Dame as Francis opened up the third quarter with a basket and-1.
But again, Prattsburgh took over with Garrett Parker scoring twice, Wightman dropping and 3-pointer and Caron adding a bucket to give the Vikings a 47-35 advantage.
Kevin Schildwaster hit two 3-pointers and another basket in the third quarter to keep the Fighting Irish within striking distance, but the third quarter ended with Prattsburgh leading 58-49.
That lead was expanded to 68-54 as Caron had two free throws, and three baskets in a quick stretch.
Notre Dame made a late charge with Vinny Zambito hitting a long 2-pointer and Nick Bochiccho draining a trey, but the game wound up being a blowout.
Garrett Parker scored eight of his points in the second half for Prattsburgh while Schildwaster added 13 points to Francis' 18 and Tommy Rapone scored eight points, all in the first half.
Prattsburgh (12-3) is currently ranked third in Class D2 in the Section 5 sectional bracket, while ND is 10-2 and the top ranked in D1.
With the NYSPHSAA looking force teams to drop two games in the season, means this might be the end of the great rivalry.
Notre Dame will only have three non-league games, and two of those will be in the Lions Club Tournament, leaving just one open slot.
Wilson-Magnet does not play in the same sectional bracket, but many local fans like to stick around and watch the big boys play.
Wilson had a very good chance to be there, but will not be because a player was over the age limit to play high school basketball. His name was not released by the school, but a thread on Section 5 Talksback claims the player is Thomas Bell, a senior guard.
“Our responsibility is to respond to any accusations that are made and do some research,” AD Carlos Cotto, told Jeff Diveronica of the Democrat & Chronicle. “I acted on (a question about the student’s age) and we did what we had to do as soon as we found out. It’s a disappointment, but we have a responsibility to honor the rules that govern the athletic program.”
Wilson was the No. 2 seed in the Class AA1 bracket - behind Rush-Henrietta - with a record of 10-3. They had to forfeit all 10 wins, but are now 1-13 because they beat Greece Odyssey. This should make that bracket interesting, for those of us that enjoy following all of Section 5.
Wilson is a great squad that might end up as a lower-middle seed and cruise to the finals where there is a good chance Rush-Henrietta will be waiting.
The Green Monster, as the Alexander cheering section likes to be known, chanted "defense, defense" for the entire game.
Maybe that chant pumped the players up, but Alexander played some wicked D in beating an Elba team that had just knocked off Oakfield-Alabama by a score of 56-38.
One quarter totally made the difference.
The Trojans shut out the Lancers, 17-0, to take a 29-17 lead that Elba could never come back from.
Trailing 17-12 after a period of play, Alexander came out in the second quarter focused on defense 100-percent, forcing Elba into tough shots and grabbing every rebound.
Ryan Wilson kicked off the second quarter with two offensive rebounds that he turned into baskets. Mike Galletti then knocked in a pair of 3-pointers and Alexander had a firm 12 point lead at intermission.
The Lancers cut the deficit to seven points as Dan Ramsey and and Sonny Giuliano hit both hit two foul shots.
Wilson had a bucket and an and-1 to get the lead back up to 10 points, 40-30.
Elba made an attempt to come back late in the fourth quarter and couldn't score. The Trojans scored the final seven points off rebounds of Elba misses.
Kyle Woodruff led the Trojans with 16 points, eight rebounds and three assists, with Stephen George adding 11 points.
Wilson had seven points and 10 rebounds and Jared Quinn (5) and Troy Shelnut (4).
Alexander has won three-straight games by double figures and have improved to 5-7.
Elba falls to 7-6.
Check out a huge collection of photos from the game here.
Brittany Mazurkiewicz went off as the Batavia girls basketball team toppled Victor 49-39 Friday.
She also had four assists.
Brittany Wormley continued her hot play with 12 points and five dimes. Jaycee Shirk had eight points as Batavia improves to 12-3.
Jenee Vanderstyne, Taylor Hudson and Alex Valenti scored eight points apiece for Victor (1-11).
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York took care of Le Roy 53-39 as Taylor Schultz had 15 points and 10 boards for the Golden Knights (7-7).
Allison Macomber had 15 points to lead the Oatkan Knights (1-13). Jenna Merica had 13.
Something is up with state-ranked Oakfield-Alabama.
They were upset earlier in the week and nearly lost to visiting Kendall 58-55 Friday night.
The Eagles poured in 23 points in the fourth quarter and nearly pulled the upset off. Josh Laureano scored 16 of his game-high 39 points in the final period to almost guide his team to victory. He dropped in two 3-pointers to turn a 15 point deficit to a 1-point deficit.
After O-A's Sam McCracken hit a pair of free throws with 11 seconds left, Laureano had one last chance to tie the game. But he missed the three-point shot.
Noah Seward led the Hornets with 15 points with Tim Smith scoring 12 and Josh Athoe adding 10.
McCracken had eight points for O-A, which improves to 11-2.
Laureano had a dominant night, with just Chad Bently and Colt Tooley adding five points apiece. Kendall falls to 7-4.
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Batavia never trailed in downing Victor 59-43.
The Blue Devils were on fire from beyond the 3-point line, connecting on 10 of 18 attempts, with Andrew Hoy hitting three trifectas to score a team-high 15 points.
Marcus Hoy and Dakota Irvin added 10 points apiece as Batavia improves to 11-2.
Victor (10-4) committed 17 turnovers and was led by Lee Lomenzo with 12 points.
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Kevin Francis had 17 points to lead Notre Dame to a 68-51 win over Attica's basketball team.
Gianni Zambito scored a career-high 11 points and Gregg Barr scored 10 of his 11 points in the first quarter, giving the Fighting Irish a 19-4 advantage.
Bryan Thompson had 13 points and Tate Westermeier added nine for the Blue Devils (6-6).
Notre Dame improves to 10-2.
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Mike Humphrey scored 24 points with five rebounds, five steals and three dimes to lead Le Roy to a 54-47 win over visiting York.
Quentin Humphrey had five points and four assists while Eric Stella chipped in six points, nine boards and a pair of blocks for the Oatkan Knights (7-7).
Travis Fenstermaker had eight points and Jordan Casper chipped in seven.
Eric Hann had 19 points and nine rebounds for York (8-6).
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Tyler Sass had a game-high 12 points to lead Byron-Bergen past Wheatland-Chili 39-33.
David Garnish had six points and a pair of blocked shots with Kevin Rickard and Tess Schramm adding eight points apiece for the Bees (3-9).
Rick Agosto and Andy Lund each scored nine points for the Wildcats (3-10).
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Holley's Tim Banks, Tim Butler and Ryan VanGuilder each had a pin for the Holley wrestling team, which dropped Kenmore East 65-15.
I've talked with many coaches through the years about how they must keep players hydrated during the preseason practices when the weather is still very hot and the kids are in pads.
Luckily, we have had no serious incidents that I have heard of around here. That is a real credit to the coaches that make sure to give the kids enough breaks for water and Gatorade, and they don't work them too hard on days that are extremely hot.
Strangely enough I was watching a rerun of "Six Feet Under", a great series that was on HBO. It was the second episode from the second season, and it was about a player that died at a hot football practice.
Then today I find a brief on the Buffalo News about a coach in Kentucky that is being charged with reckless homicide after the death of a player.
There are players that end up in the hospital all over the country and we are lucky that we have such responsible coaches in the area.
A Kentucky high school football coach was charged with reckless homicide in the death of a player who collapsed during a sweltering practice in a rare criminal case against a coach in a heat death.
A grand jury indicted David Jason Stinson in the death of Pleasure Ridge Park offensive lineman Max Gilpin. Stinson, in his first year as head coach at the Louisville school, was directing practice Aug. 20 when the heat index reached 94 degrees and the 15-year-old sophomore collapsed and had trouble breathing.
The reckless homicide charge means grand jurors didn’t find that Stinson’s actions were intentional or malicious, said Jefferson County Commonwealth’s Attorney Dave Stengel,but that “a reasonable man should have realized something like this could have occurred.”
I heard about this yesterday as I walked out the door to cover the Elba/Alexander game, and it is pretty strange.
A team beat another by the score of 100-0 in Texas, and it is causing some regrets by the losing squad and really ticked off the losing team, which is a school that teaches students with "learning disabilities".
DALLAS — A Texas high school girls basketball team on the winning end of a 100-0 game has a case of blowout remorse.
Now officials from the winning school say they are trying to do the right thing by seeking a forfeit and apologizing for the margin of victory.
In a statement Thursday on The Covenant School's Web site, the head of school said, "It is shameful and an embarrassment that this happened." He went on to say that Covenant has made "a formal request to forfeit the game recognizing that a victory without honor is a great loss."
Last week Covenant, a private Christian school in Dallas, defeated Dallas Academy 100-0. Covenant was up 59-0 at halftime.
A parent who attended the game told The Associated Press that Covenant continued to make 3-pointers — even in the fourth quarter. She praised the Covenant players but said spectators and an assistant coach were cheering wildly as their team edged closer to 100 points.
Meghan Fahy hit six straight foul shots in the closing minutes to pull Kendall within a point, but couldn't get a shot off and Oakfield-Alabama got past a scare, 42-41.
Brynn Perfitt of O-A and Fahy went toe-to-toe and had 25 points apiece.
Lindsay Chatt had six points and Hillary Bates added five for the Hornets (7-7).
Samantha D'Agostino added 10 points for the Eagles (3-8).
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In what must have been an ugly game to watch, Notre Dame scored more points in the first quarter (21) than Attica did in the entire game. The Fighting Irish won 69-19.
Nichole Hart had a big game with 17 points and four steals with Liz Geandreau pitching in 15 points and eight boards. Brittany Morelli had 14 points and Trisha Pike finished with 11.
BRianna Hammel had seven points for the Blue Devils.
Notre Dame is now 10-3.
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Kelsey Lewis led Pembroke with 12 points, nine rebounds, five assists and three steals as the Dragons downed Lyndonville 45-36.
Laura Moser added nine points with nine rebounds, six swipes and three dimes, with Clarisse Birkby adding six points for the Dragons (7-6).
Molly Burgess had 12 points for the Tigers.
The Batavia hockey team scored three times in the third period to come from behind and beat Brighton/East Rochester/Honeoye Falls-Lima 4-2.
Will Mulcahy, Tim Finnell and Corey Kocent had those third period goals. Pat Finnell scored the other goal and handed out two assists.
Erik Pokornowski had three helpers and Adam Kurek had 14 saves in net.
Batavia improves to 9-6-1.
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Le Roy crushed Dansville in wrestling action, 61-24.
Don Pangrazio had a pin over Andy Graves at 130 pounds in 1:12 and Tyler Fenstermaker added a pin in 4:37 at 145 pounds, over Jason Boots-Lovetro.
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Batavia's wrestling team improved to 17-5 with a 66-24 thumping of Greece Athena.
Ryan Darch had no problem keeping his undefeated record with a pin over Mike LoFoso in :24.
Josh Mase, Nick Lazarony and Joe Muoio all won via pin.
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Attica picked up a 51-24 victory over Alexander on the mat.
Lance Compton pinned Brandon Toporczyk in 1:10 at 135 and Doug Beitz dropped Dan Ognibene in 1:53 at 285 pounds.
Dave Jennings also had a pin at 189 for the Blue Devils.
Two of the top three teams in the Genesee Region League squared off in Elba Thursday night.
It was the host Lancers that battled back from a huge early deficit to beat Alexander 61-53, improving to 12-2.
They keys to the win again was solid pressure defense, fresh legs ... and holding Alexander star Anni Lehtola in check.
The Trojans opened up a fast 9-1 lead as Rachel Pettys scored four of those points and Lehtola drained a 3-pointer.
The first basket for Elba came from Chelsie Pangrazio, and the Lancers closed the lead to 13-9. But Alexander went on another run, with three free throws and were ahead 17-10.
Meg Stucko had a bucket to end the first quarter to make it 17-12.
Elba quickly took the lead for good in the second quarter as eighth grader McKenzie Bezon went off.
Bezon hit a free throw, then dropped in a 3-pointer, stole the inbounds pass and scored again, making the score 20-18. Rachael Cook had consecutive rebound put-back baskets and all of a sudden a 9-1 lead turned into a 25-18 deficit for Alexander.
Cook had another bucket, Julie Marshall scored and Bezon hit one of two foul shots to make it 30-20 at the half.
The Lancers came out hot in the third quarter with Sarah Schwartzmeyer, Cook and Bezon scored three-straight baskets.
Lehtola had her best quarter, scoring six of her 13 points before fouling out in the third quarter.
But Elba had taken control with a 47-36 lead going into the final frame.
Midway through the final period, Alexander made a run. Anna Dominick scored, Rachel Pettys hit two free throws, and Dominick hit two more foul shots to cut the lead to 52-47.
Pettys hit a foul shot and Katie Kochmanski scored and the score was 52-50 with just over two minutes left.
Schwartzmeyer scored before there was an intentional foul called on the Lancers, giving Schwartzmeyer a chance to hit one of two free throws.
Cassy Engle scored and then hit a free throw and the lead was back up to 10 points with about a minute left to play.
Cook scored 12 points with 10 rebounds and Stucko added 10 boards to go with her three points. Bezon had 11 points with Chelsie Pangrazio added seven points. Schwartzmeyer had six points and Missy Call added six points and four assists.
Dominick had 12 points and Pettys added 11 for the Trojans (9-3)
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