Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2012: Jamestown coach out after altercation with player

   Leading off today: I could have (and should have) led blogs the last four days with significant girls basketball developments.

   So without further adieu, here's what you may have missed from the last several days in a special girls hoops edition of the blog:

   Uproar in Jamestown: Saying he "totally regrets every part of what happened," eighth-year Jamestown coach Ken Ricker told The Post-Journal on Tuesday he will resign in the wake of an in-game altercation with one of his players last Thursday.

   "I've had a pretty good run and we've had a pretty good run,'' he told the paper. "The last two nights I've come to grips that it's time to step away."

   Ricker, the JHS supervisor of in-school suspensions, went 141-31 with three Section 6 championships. The team is 9-3 this season. He told The Buffalo News that Superintendent Daniel Kathman gave him a quit-or-be fired ultimatum, almost certainly ending a coaching career in which he's guided boys soccer, girls soccer, basketball, volleyball and softball teams over the last 12 years.

   According to news accounts, Ricker was involved in an argument with junior guard Rosa Velazquez in the second quarter of a 50-38 win over Clarence. He did not return for the second half after talking with AD Ben Drake and principal Mike McElrath, who were in attendance. Ricker was indefinitely suspended a day later and assistant Bill Canfield was named interim coach.

   Ricker told The Buffalo News he was trying to get Velazquez to the bench to avoid a technical foul after she had already been T'd up, apparently for swearing at a referee -- which she denied. When Velazquez didn't go to the bench, Ricker allegedly pushed her, at which time the player's mother reportedly came across the court, screaming profanities at the coach.

   "I knew how it looked because I heard the reaction of the crowd," Ricker said. "At the same time I'm a 275-pound man, and I'm a foot taller than her, and I'm loud. I know it was bad, but I was truly trying to protect my player."

   Big day for a huge star: Breanna Stewart's Friday may have been better than my whole life.

   Her day began with the announcement that the Cicero-North Syracuse forward was selected the 2011 USA Basketball Female Athlete of the Year. That's not just high school player of the year, but the overall player of the year for all of women's amateur basketball.

   Past recipients of the award have included Diana Taurasi and Lisa Leslie. "To see the list of the players that I was on that list with, it was mind-boggling." Stewart told The Post-Standard.

   The honor makes her eligible for the U.S. Olympic Committee’s Sportswoman of the Year award.

   Stewart was the second-youngest member of the USA U-19 team and averaged team highs of 11.2 points and 7.3 rebounds at the 2011 FIBA U-19 World Championships for the gold medalists.

   Later in the day, C-NS ran off the first 31 points of the game in beating Auburn 94-39 as Stewart scored 20 of her 26 points before halftime. Along the way, the UConn recruit collected the 2,000th point of her career.

   Easy come, easy go: A week ago, Upper Room eighth-grader Sydney Zambrotta broke the Long Island single-game scoring record with 63 points in a 78-17 win over Our Savior New American.

   Later in the week, the transfer from North Babylon who has also hit for 51 and 58 points in games this winter had a 48-point game stripped from the books when it was determined a 52-49 win over Waldorf on Jan. 20 will need to be replayed because no shot clock was used, Newsday reported.

   Chong breaks school mark: Ossining junior Saniya Chong racked up 35 points to become the school's career scoring leader during an 85-69 win at Holmdel, N.J., on Sunday.

   She broke Brittney Thomas' record of 1,770, set in 2000, midway through the fourth quarter and went on her second straight triple-double by adding 11 assists and 10 steals.

   Speaking of school records, Christa Scognamiglio became Pearl River's career scoring leader early in a 63-29 home win over Burke Catholic on Saturday -- and it was an unexpected surprise to her.

   Denise McGuire graduated in 1980 with 1,476 points,

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and Scognamiglio began the game under the impression that she was 18 points away. In fact, she was only three points from the Pirates mark and reached it with a layup midway through the first quarter.

   Coach Lorraine Moylan admitted to misleading Scognamiglio, a five-year varsity player heading to Fairfield University next fall, to keep her from pressing as she got closer to the record.

   Breaking through: Syracuse Academy of Science, 0-29 in its first two varsity seasons, entered the win column Thursday with a 34-33 victory over Pulaski in Section 3 as Tiona Brown (18 points, 10 rebounds) connected on a 3-pointer with seven seconds left for first-year coach Reggie Pickard.

   There's no telling what a team can accomplish once it gets that first win under its belt. If you don't believe that, just look at Michael Denman's Palisade Prep squad in Yonkers.

   After going winless in its first varsity season and starting this winter 0-6, Palisade Prep (which plays in Section 1 Class C) has pieced together three straight wins beginning with a 45-43 OT thriller vs. Yonkers Riverside on Jan. 20.

   After that came a 29-27 win -- also in OT -- against Solomon Schecter and then a 26-17 win against the French American School.

   Sunday fun day: Sunday basketball is a foreign concept for much of Upstate New York with the exception of an occasional non-leaguer here or there. But that doesn't hold true for downstate, and there were some significant contests Sunday, highlighted by action in the Kennedy Challenge in the Bronx.

   Chief among them was St. Anthony's scoring a 65-59 win over Long Island Lutheran. Rebecca Musgrove (22 points), fouled on a drive to the baseline at the buzzer, made the back end of a two-shot foul with no time left in regulation and then hit 7 of 8 free throws in overtime to lead the Friars, who jumped to a 14-1 lead in the game's early minutes.

   In the same showcase, Nazareth beat New Jersey's DePaul Catholic 74-56 as Syracuse-bound Brianna Butler made six 3-pointers on her way to 24 points. The Lady Kingsmen (8-1) will host Bishop Ford today and Mary Louis on Wednesday, then play at Christ the King on Saturday as they catch up to the pack in games played after a late start.

   Remember this? You probably recall the story from Texas in January 2009 involving Andrew Lott, whose Covenant School team beat Dallas Academy 100-0.

   The lopsided score put a lot of heat on Lott, who refused to apologize for it and was eventually replaced as the coach. Since 2010 he's been as assistant football coach at Mesquite High near Dallas.

   And now Lott, 33, has problems far greater than justifying a 100-point win. He was arrested on Thursday, accused of having an improper relationship with a 17-year-old female student from Mesquite.