Thursday, Feb. 2, 2017: Albertus Magnus ends Ossining's Section 1 streak

   Leading off today: It hadn't happened since Feb. 4, 2011, but the Ossining girls basketball team finally lost to a Section 1 opponent on Wednesday.

   Albertus Magnus had five double-digit scorers -- Maeve MacNeill (16 points), Tess Lorenz (13), Allison Conti (12), Mairead Durkin (12) and Tanasha Mills (10) -- in an 80-75 win over the Pride, who had won 93 in a row vs. Section 1 competition.

   Ossining is the four-time defending NYSPHSAA Class AA champion with six straight sectional crowns.

   "I'm so proud of our team," Albertus Magnus coach Pat Buckley told The Journal News. "They just executed, made big plays, didn't quit -- that's what you want out of kids."

   Buckley credited his bench, which outscored Ossining's reserves 35-10. Ossining sophomore Kailah Harris led all scorers with 27 points.

   Working hard: Mekeel Christian, ranked seventh in the state in Class B, was extended to two overtimes before going on to a 74-69 win over Broadalbin-Perth in boys basketball.

   Mekeel point guard Deonte Holder found Jordan Jackson (17 points) for the junior's fifth 3-pointer and a 70-65 lead, and Mekeel held Broadalbin-Perth to 1-for-8 shooting in the second OT.

   Holder and Carter Stewart paced the Lions with 20 points apiece.

   "This is a great game for Mekeel because this is what we needed," coach Chad Bowman told The Times Union. "We needed to play a game that was close where we had to keep battling. You may not being playing amazingly well, but you have to find a way."

   Working harder: Dansville prevailed over Warsaw 84-83 in four overtimes behind 27 points from Hunter Little and 23 by Anthony Sackett.

   Warsaw's Rashawn Scott (20 points) hit a runner with :15 left in the fourth quarter to tie the game. Dansville's Cordell Flint hit a runner at the end of the first OT, and Ethan Grawe (19 points, 10 rebounds) of Warsaw made a jumper with :03 left in the second OT. Tim Wise of Dansville hit a bucket from the free-throw line with :05 to play in the third OT to extend the game again.

   Ben McConnell finished with 19 points, 12 rebounds and 11 blocks in a losing cause.

   Looking ahead: Thursday shapes up as a big night for two Glens Falls sisters. Sophie and Lucy Tougas stand at 996 and 991 points, respectively, for their careers heading into a home game.

   Each could hit the 1,000 milestone vs. Queensbury.

   "That's a cool thing when you have two sisters who are going to hit 1,000 probably within a night of each other," Glens Falls coach Mark Girard. "If I have anything to do with it, they'll probably do it the same night."

   New Section 2 leader: Shaker AD and NYSPHSAA baseball chairman Ed Dopp will have a new job May 1. He was introduced last week as the next Section 2 executive director.

   Dopp, 57, will relinquish his AD responsibilities March 31 and oversee his last state baseball tournament in early June. He'll replace Wayne Bertrand in the role overseeing Section 2.

   Bertrand was already fairly high on the seniority list of NYSPHSAA executive directors considering he only took the job in 2013.

   The recent turnover has included:

• Greg Ransom replacing Bob Thabet in Section 9 in June 2015.
• Matthew Walentuk assumed the lead role in Section 7 last Sept. 26 when Karen Lopez stepped down.
• Kathy Hoyt for Ed Stores in Section 5 this past fall.
• Section 11 announced this month that Tom Combs will replace Don Webster on July 1.

   Shortly before that sequence, NYSPHSAA Executive Director Nina Van Erk retired to take over Section 8 operations and was replaced in the state office by Robert Zayas in September 2012.

   New Jersey vote coming: The New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association is expected to vote next week on new rules for athletes who transfer.

   New Jersey currently allows transferring only with proof of a true address change. The state now wants to get rid of that process and replace it with new rules specifying that a student who transfers would have to sit out a month or half of the games. A student changing schools during a sports season would have to sit out a month and be banned from playoff games.

   The measure would apply to students transferring to New Jersey from another state.

   "If a family moves from Virginia and they decide to move to Newark, New Jersey, why should a child have to sit for 30 days?" said state Assemblyman and Hackensack football coach Benjie Wimberly. "That just doesn't make a lot of sense to me."

   Hazing lawsuit: A federal lawsuit filed by two alleged victims says hazing including forced sexual acts have been occurring in an Illinois football program for two decades or longer.

   The majority of the Lake Zurich (Ill.) football coaching staff was placed on paid administrative leave on the eve of a playoff game in November. Days later it emerged that the coaches had been suspended -- and players forced to sign a strange contract before competing -- due to an apparent hazing situation.

   "(The victims) were brutally mocked, teased, humiliated, embarrassed and emotionally harmed, all in the name of team bonding," attorney Antonio Romanucci said at a news conference announcing the suit. The lawsuit cites hazing events dating back to 1997.

   While he is no longer the head coach, David Proffitt defended the actions of his staff and himself in a text message exchange with the Chicago Tribune.

   "We have always tried to do the right thing in preparing (players) for life's challenges, while keeping them and the program's best interest at heart," he wrote. "In the 11 years I have been at LZ, anytime we felt that a player was being humiliated in any way what so ever, we stopped it & made sure those involved understood the wrong in what they were doing."