High School Fridays: Ballston Spa @ Troy (women's basketball), 12/7/18

After a humbling road loss to Albany on Tuesday night, Troy High's women's basketball team returned home to host Ballston Spa tonight at Zotto Memorial Gym. Both teams entered the game at 1-1, but the Lady Scotties, with one extra game played, were 2-1 overall.

If Troy coach Ryan Meikle had one goal in mind, it was to make sure his charges weren't blown out of their own gym. They have a week off before their next game, and regaining momentum was paramount. Thus, the Lady Horses played a tight, one-to-one pressure defense, but had trouble boxing out Ballston Spa for offensive or defensive rebounds. Still, Troy only trailed, 26-23, at the break.

Then, Jenalyse Alarcon took over.

The sophomore was held to two points at the break, and had a horrible night at the free throw line. However, in the third quarter, Alarcon finally sprang to life, hitting three key baskets, including a three pointer, to put Troy up for good. Alarcon finished with a game high 20 points. Juliana Valenti added 16, and Alaina Holmes had 12, as Troy defeated Ballston Spa, 58-49. Troy is now 2-1, while the Lady Scotties drop to 2-2 overall, 1-2 in the Suburban Council.

As noted, Troy has a week off before their next game, and will play two games in less than 24 hours next week, going on the road at Guilderland before returning home for a non-league matinee vs. Whitesboro the next day.
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Kiana Patterson was one of the linchpins behind Troy's 2012-13 run to the state title in women's basketball. Patterson graduated in 2015, and enrolled at Central Connecticut State.

On Wednesday, Patterson, now a senior at CCSU, returned home as the Blue Devils paid a call on UAlbany at SEFCU Arena......

Edit, 1/15/19: WRGB has removed the video footage from their website, and thus it's not available any longer.

Is Patterson's next stop the WNBA? Let's hope so.
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Also tonight: Troy's boys team is now 2-0 after dispatching Ballston Spa on the road, 74-61. Lateef Johnson led the way with a game high 26 points. Like the girls, the boys have a week off before coming home to play Guilderland next Friday night, the first of three games in the space of a week before the Christmas break.

Troy High Tuesday roundup

Reality has set in for Troy High's women's basketball team.

After blowing out Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake in their opener last Friday, the Lady Horses traveled across the river to Albany High, one of the teams in the Suburban Council that Troy just can't seem to beat.

Tuesday was no exception. Jenalyse Alarcon led Troy with 16 points, but no other Troy player placed in double figures, and Albany served up another dose of karma, blowing Troy out of their gym, 67-39.. The Lady Falcons are already 3-0 overall (2-0 Suburban Council), while Troy dips to 1-1. Ryan Meikel's club returns home to play Ballston Spa on Friday.

Meanwhile, at Zotto Gym, the boys had their opener against Albany. Nazaire Merritt did most of his damage from the free throw line as he led all scorers with 23 points, pacing Troy to a 68-51 win. Greg Davis' team will be at Ballston Spa on Friday. A quick check of the box score shows that Troy returned two starters from last year's team (Merritt and Latyce Faison), with a few more, including varsity football stars Alex Wolfe & Makai Cruel, promoted from the JV. They will contend this year.
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Curiously, and this is probably an editing error, the Albany Times-Union's standings for the boys show defending Grey Division champ CBA in the Blue Division. Conversely, Columbia is listed in the Grey Division for the boys, but in the Blue for the girls, which creates the imbalance I referenced the other day. Clarification coming later this week.
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Update: 12/6/18: Troy's bowling team opened their season with a 28-4 romp over Albany at Uncle Sam Lanes on Tuesday. It took a little longer to get a win last year, so maybe the Flying Horses are finally ready to move out of the Suburban Council basement in bowling.

In other hoops action, Columbia beat Ballston Spa, 72-56, also on Tuesday.

Another stealth change

On Friday, in reporting on the Troy High-Burnt Hills women's basketball game, we reported on the coaching change at Troy, with Ryan Meikel taking over for Paul Bearup, who stepped aside after 13 seasons. The Record won't mention anything because the Troy school district, specifically superintendent John Carmello, won't let them.

The Record, on the other hand, did a feature piece on LaSalle's basketball team in today's editions, and, lo & behold, they also made a coaching change. Steve Sgambelluri, the former College of St. Rose star, was let go, and Jon Desso, a LaSalle alumnus, succeeds Sgambelluri, who got the Cadets to the first round of the Class AA sectionals in February. While all the attention was on LaSalle bringing in former Union coach John Audino to rebuild the football program, this change went under the radar until now, two days after LaSalle opened its season with a 57-41 win over Ichabod Crane to open Colonial Council play. LaSalle, remember, is now in Class A.

The following video comes from The Record's YouTube channel.



Obviously, what isn't being said is that LaSalle administration wants the Cadets to progress further into the sectionals. Moving to Class A will do that, provided they get a favorable seeding. One & done, after getting to the second round in 2017, did in Sgambelluri.
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Meanwhile, on the ice, Tim Flanigan's skating Cadets are off to a 1-0-1 start after their annual trip to Plattsburgh. LaSalle beat Plattsburgh, 3-2, on Friday, then went to a 6-6 draw with Beekmantown on Saturday. The Cadets are off until Saturday, when they begin league play on the road at Christian Brothers Academy before the home opener on December 12 vs. Shenendehowa.

A league out of balance

The departure of Mohonasen from the Suburban Council to the Colonial Council after last season leaves the former in an untenable situation, one that needs to be resolved after the just begun season ends.

Mohon's defection hurts the women's sports teams more than it does the men, as 14 out of the remaining 15 schools in the Suburban Council have women's teams, the lone exception being the all-male Christian Brothers Academy, the reigning Grey division men's basketball champions.

There is only one feasible solution, one the league's members didn't consider in the off-season. The Suburban Council has to realign again, three years after admitting CBA, Troy, Albany, & Schenectady.

A quick look at the standings in the league after the first weekend of league play shows there are just six teams in the Grey division for women's sports, and eight in the blue division. For the boys, its 8 (blue) & 7 (grey). Remember when Major League Baseball realigned to three five team divisions in both the American & National Leagues? This is the direction the Suburban Council needs to take beginning in the 2019-20 season.

Here's one writer's idea:

Grey: CBA (boys only), Troy, Albany, Schenectady, Averill Park.
Blue: Saratoga, Shenendehowa, Ballston Spa, Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake.
White: Columbia, Bethlehem, Colonie, Guilderland, Shaker.

This way, the four former Big 10 schools remain together, with Averill Park remaining as a territorial rival to Troy. Shaker & Colonie would remain together due to their long-standing rivalry, and a case could be made for CBA joining them in the proposed new division, since they are also based in Colonie, while Columbia would be in the grey division, for territorial reasons (Troy, Averill Park).

The question, then, is whether or not the league even considers this idea, or anything like it, going forward. Sure, there will be those whining, "Realignment again so soon?", but it is necessary.

Bethlehem @ Lansingburgh (boys basketball) , 12/1/18

If there is one thing we learned during football season, a Class B school can beat one from a higher classification.

Unfortunately, while we saw Class B beat Class A, Class AA is a different animal altogether, as Lansingburgh found out today.

Bethlehem, a year and a half removed from a Class AA title, played their second game in 24 hours as the Eagles came to North Troy for a non-league twilight game. Originally advertised for a 3 pm tip, Lansingburgh made a late change, pushing back the start of the JV game by a half hour to 2 pm, and never bothered to submit the information to their webpage on the Colonial Council website.

One week after taking Kingston to the limit before falling in their own pre-season tournament, the Knights drew first blood when Jahad Lewis put the first points on the board two minutes into the game. Unfortunately, Lewis quickly got into foul trouble, and spent the better part of the first half on the bench. The Eagles, meanwhile, relied on one basic weapon, the three-pointer. Michael Ortale had four of those and finished with 14 points. Bethlehem's smothering defense made it difficult for the Knights to find their footing in the first half, but the Eagles went into the break leading by only six points at 33-27.

However, Lansingburgh came out of the break with renewed energy, and Trevor Green promptly brought the crowd to their feet with a trey of his own. Green finished with a game high 21 points before fouling out late in the fourth quarter. The Knights took a one point lead into the final frame, only to have Bethlehem, helped out by some questionable officiating, outscore Lansingburgh 29-18. What appeared to be a goaltending call against Bethlehem wasn't ruled as such. Green had two baskets taken away, one when he was called for traveling, and the other on a foul that was ruled to have been committed before the shot was made. Green made both halves of a 1-and-1 free throw to get those points back, but the fans were booing the non-call on the goaltending.

In the end, Bethlehem ran its record to 2-0 with a 73-63 win, but to be sure, this was earned the hard way. Lasingburgh falls to 1-2, and begins Colonial Council play on Friday at Ichabod Crane. Jakob LeClair led Bethlehem with 18 points in the win.

Bethlehem also won the JV game, a lopsided 69-27 blowout that had all the markings of one of those college games where a Top 25 team blows out a smaller, overmatched foe. And you wonder why the local papers don't report JV scores anymore.

High School Fridays: Burnt-Hills-Ballston Lake @ Troy (women's basketball), 11/30/18

This was originally posted at The Land of Whatever:
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The best kept secret in Section II basketball this off-season was at Troy High. Most of us didn't know about it until tonight.

Troy athletic director Paul Reinisch quietly overhauled the women's basketball coaching staff. Paul Bearup, after 13 seasons, decided to concentrate on his day-to-day duties as a physical education teacher. Ryan Meikel was named head coach, with Sarah Fullmer the only assistant. I think I can figure out what happened here. After a 6-15 campaign last season, Reinisch reasoned that the girls were hearing too many voices, which led to the team lacking cohesion and/or direction. The idea here is that with just two coaches instead of three or four, a system both the boys & girls teams have had (and the boys still do), it will make things a little easier for a women's team that still lacks senior leadership. They have just two seniors on this season's 11 player roster.

It helps the new coaching staff that they got what amounted to a gimme right away.

Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake has been a second division club since the Suburban Council was split into two divisions three years ago. Headed into tonight's league opener, the Lady Spartans hadn't beaten Troy in three tries. Coach Colleen Froschauer has a talented roster, but she, too, also lacks seniors, with just one----Erin Pahl---on her roster, countered with two freshmen and an 8th grader.

Troy took the lead early, and never gave it up. Sophomore forward Jenalyse Alarcon, one of Troy's leading scorers last season, led all scorers with 18 points before fouling out in the 4th quarter. Alaina Holmes added 11, and survived a minor injury scare in the 3rd quarter when she tweaked either her knee or her ankle. Kelly Anderson led Burnt Hills with 11, and Troy rolled to a 60-36 victory.

However, the road doesn't get easier for Troy. While there's one fewer team in the division after Mohonasen departed for the Colonial Council, Troy has three home & home series on the docket this season, as they'll visit Burnt Hills for the rematch on January 29 after mid-term week. The other home & homes are with, as usual, Albany (starting Tuesday) & Schenectady. In the long term, however, it would make more sense, due to geography, to have that 3rd home & home series be with Averill Park or Columbia, both close territorial rivals.

After visiting Albany Tuesday afternoon, the Lady Horses return home next Friday to play Ballston Spa, then get a week off before traveling to Guilderland. The boys, under 2nd year head coach Greg Davis, begin their season Tuesday at home vs. Albany.

Welcome to the beat

Welcome, friends, to your new destination for news & game results for high school & minor league sports in the 518. Welcome, then, to Tri-City SportsBeat.

We won't be posting as frequently as we do on our other blogs, but our goal is simple. We will do our very best to keep you updated on high school sports during the school year, as well as the reigning NY-Penn League champion Tri-City Valleycats during the summer. We won't be there for every game, but we will be keeping tabs.

Our first live report will be later today.