lyons

The Notre Dame Lady Irish picked up some extra Section V girls’ basketball points this afternoon by defeating Lyons, 47-33.

Coach Vinny Falleti’s squad improved to 4-2 and moved up in the Class D standings with the non-league win over the Lions, who fell to 4-3 in Class C1, a division consisting of larger schools than Notre Dame.

ND jumped out to a 15-7 first-quarter lead and never looked back, holding a 27-14 halftime edge and a 34-25 advantage heading into the final period.

Senior Emma Sisson led the Irish with 12 points and nine rebounds while Sofia Falleti added 10 points and 16 rebounds. Nina Bartz and Ali Tomidy chipped in with eight points each.

Falleti said he was impressed with his team’s ability to control the pace of the game.

“We came ready to play a tough Lyons team on their court,” he said. “We jumped out to an early lead and kept the momentum throughout. This was a big win for us.”

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Photos by Steve Ognibene

As many area schools face issues with declining enrollment, there is a prime example of what we could see in the future happening at Lyons High School right now.

Lyons had to forfeit last weekend's game against Dundee and today announced it will not be fielding a team for the Class DD playoffs, which start this weekend. The reason is that the team does not have the  minimum of 16 kids that must suit up to play a game.

The eighth-seeded Lions were scheduled to play No. 1 Caledonia-Mumford Friday night.

The only team in the bracket to be pushed into Pool Play is Warsaw, which one would assume would be given that final playoff position. But, it is Wednesday and Cal-Mum and Warsaw have already been working on preparations for the original teams on the schedule. So Warsaw will not be jumping into the playoffs.

This happened two years ago when Holley had to forfeit its final regular season game and opening round playoff game, both against Pembroke.

The Dragons went two weeks without a game and lost in the sectional semifinals because they were obviously rusty and had to play a very good Le Roy squad.

Now Cal-Mum might very well go into the playoffs with a week off and the possibility of facing a solid Avon team in the semifinals.

 Elba felt the need to merge with Byron-Bergen because of the declining numbers, with hopes of avoiding this situation. Unfortunately, this is something that now appears to be a topic we are going to be discussing come playoff time every year or two now.