Friday, Nov. 30, 2018: North Tonawanda AD may be fired next week

   District Superintendent Gregory J. Woytila said he intends to ask the school board to terminate Alger at the Dec. 5 meeting. If Alger is fired, a lawsuit may soon follow.

   "The superintendent is attempting to railroad him with a bunch of baseless allegations," attorney Stephen Jones told the paper Thursday.

   Neither Woytila nor Alger has said what prompted Woytila to pursue Alger's ouster, but a lawyer for the family of a female student athlete said the district is investigating alleged roughhousing of a nonsexual nature between the AD and the student. Jones confirmed there was an incident, but he called it a "pretext" for the real reason Woytila wants to fire Alger, which Jones contended is a medical condition that caused Alger to take some time off work earlier this year.

   The athlete's family is not pursuing legal action against Alger or the school district, the paper reported.

   Alger is in his third year at North Tonawanda.

   Milestone: It should have happened a year ago, but Woodlands girls basketball player Teisha Hyman finally reached the 2,000 points mark for her career during a tournament game Thursday vs. Briarcliff.

   Hyman entered the contest three points short of 2,000. She had been on hold since last Dec. 11, when she tore an ACL and meniscus in the third game of her junior season.

   Next up for her is taking the school record currently held by former teammate Imani Tilford, who finished with 2,063 points.

   Boys hockey: Sweet Home began defense of its NYSPHSAA Division II championship Thursday with a 3-1 win over Kenmore East. Connor Weiskerger's second-period goal proved to be the game-winner, and Eric Abbate scored twice. Goaltender Michael Lisman made 19 saves.

   Streak is over: Manlius Pebble Hill, which hadn't won a boys basketball game since Dec. 9, 2016, broke a 33-game losing streak with a 69-58 triumph over Tully on Wednesday.

   The Trojans trailed by nine points at halftime but took charge by outscoring Tully 23-5 in the third quarter.

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   "It was outstanding," MPH coach Jim Ryan said. "Some of these kids really weathered the storm the past few seasons."

   Manlius Pebble Hill got 26 points from Kendale Thompson, a transfer from Jamesville-DeWitt, and 13 from Alex Abrams. Matt Ficano and Ahmad El-Hindi scored 12 points apiece.

    • Also Wednesday, Hornell made 20 3-pointers to set a school record during a 79-54 girls basketball victory over

Corning.

   Leah Harkenrider led the Raiders with 23 points in their season opener and Jaden Sciotti added 22.

   Calling all helpers: We're assembling our list of regional advisers for the New York State Sportswriters Association girls basketball rankings that will begin next week and are looking for helpers who can supply the top teams in each class (and their records) for Sections 8 and 11 as well as New York City (PSAL and CHSAA).

   If you're interested in helping, send me an email at jmoriello@yahoo.com.

   Shot down: I blogged back in September that the proposal was irresponsible, and now state officials have come to the same conclusion.

   The Kenmore-Town of Tonawanda School District won't partner with the town to build a new hockey rink after New York State Education Department officials said the project isn't eligible for aid, The Buffalo News reported.

   Town and district officials had been discussing a collaboration that would have been eligible for as much as $6.4 million in school aid toward the projected $8 million price tag. The addition of an ice skating component to the school district's physical education curriculum was seen as the justification for state aid, but NYSED officials saw through that dubious plan.

   Extra points: East Ramapo hadn't had an athletic director since Joe Sigillo left to become Nyack's athletic director following the 2008-09 school year. That changed Monday when Brad Gitlin began as East Ramapo's new director of physical education, health and athletics.

   Gitlin, who previously worked as an athletic administrator in New York City, will oversee the entire district, including Spring Valley and Ramapo high schools. Bill Pilla, the athletic coordinator at Spring Valley, served as interim director for more than nine years after Sigillo left.