Sunday, Dec. 23, 2018: Ossining girls beat Baldwin without Griffin

   Leading off today: Ossining got a measure of revenge against a nemesis on Saturday and did so without arguably the best girls basketball player in the state.

   Junior Julia Iorio scored 23 points and Seton Hall-bound senior Kailah Harris added 20 points and 16 rebounds as the Pride defeated Baldwin 76-56 in the final of the Slam Dunk Tournament.

   Ossining had lost the last two NYSPHSAA Class AA championship games to Baldwin. The Pride was playing the latest meeting minus senior Aubrey Griffin, sidelined for a fourth straight game with a sprained ankle.

   "It's surreal, amazing. I'm kind of speechless," said senior Jaida Strippoli, who contributed eight points and 10 assists. "I feel this sends a message to everybody in the state. We were without our best player. There's a lot more coming."

   Baldwin raced to a 15-5 lead but Iorio put Ossining ahead 24-21 midway through the second quarter with one of her five 3-pointers to put Ossining ahead for good.

   Baldwin's Kaia Harrison led all scorers with 26 points and added 15 rebounds.

   Big win for Victor: Senior Lukas Miller scored twice for Victor in a 2-1 hockey victory over McQuaid on the day he Blue Devils raised their NYSPHSAA Division I state championship banner at Rochester Ice Center.

   McQuaid entered the game ranked second and Victor eighth by the New York State Sportswriters Association.

   "Seeing our state championship banner go up was an incredible moment," Victor coach Michael Ferreri said. "We have 16 returning players who have a special bond and love each other so it's great to have a way to recognize their efforts."

   McQuaid welcomed the return of senior defenseman Cooper Petrone, who is undoing chemotherapy for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Petrone stood at center ice as a captain for the national anthem.

   Senior forward Charlie Merkley gave McQuaid a lead midway through the first period but Miller responded with his first goal before the end of the period and put Victor ahead early in the third.

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   More hockey: Ryan Renzulli scored with 1:08 to play to give Horace Greeley a 6-5 victory over Mahopac in a matchup of state-ranked Section 1 teams.

   Mahopac is ranked No. 11 in Division I and Greeley, which led 4-0 in the second period, No. 12 in Division II.

   Renzulli had taken a retaliation penalty that gave the Indians a power play that allowed Mahopac's Nick Bricker to tie the score with 1:26 remaining.

   "One of the first things I mentioned in the pregame was stay out of the box, don't get caught up in the extra-curricular

stuff after the whistle," Greeley coach Dan Perito said. "They always catch the second guy. They don't catch the first guy. Hopefully that's a lesson we learned. We made life way more difficult than it needed to be."

   Huge scoring outburst: Joe Girard III scored 59 points to carry Glens Falls to an 80-65 victory over Brunswick (Ga.) in a consolation game of the City of Palms Classic Signature Series in Fort Myers, Fla.

   Girard connected on 20 of 42 field-goal attempts, including 11-for-29 from 3-point range. He also made eight out of 11 free throws en route to the No. 2 scoring perform- ance in tournament history.

   More reading: I'm not sure Northstar Christian will be able to cut it against a deep Section 5 Class A field this basketball season after being moved all the way up from Class C, but the soon-to-be No. 1 scorer in sectional history is absolutely the real deal.

   You can read more about Miles Brown in my column for PressConnects.com.

   Extra points: Jerry Mackey has been appointed as athletic director at Oneonta, effective with Joe Hughes' retirement next June after 20 years on the job.

   Mackey has been at Oneonta for 22 years and coaches girls varsity soccer and boys varsity basketball.