Leading off today: Christ the King went on a 30-7 tear during the first half and coasted him to a 74-57 victory Saturday on the strength of Bria Smith's 31 points in a battle between the state's top two large-school girls basketball teams.

   Nazareth is No. a and CTK No. 2 in Class AA according to the New York State Sportswriters Association.

   Nazareth (18-3) junior point guard Darius Faulk exited with two fouls and her team leading 8-2. From there, CTK (13-5) roared to a 32-15 lead midway through the second quarter. Lady Kingsmen coach Apache Paschall tried combinations of Bianca Cuevas, Shanice Woodson and Shiclasia Brown with little success.

   “People expect us to be alright because Bianca is such a talent, but Bianca is just a freshman,” Paschall told The New York Post. “The responsibly falls on (Darius’) shoulders. She has to lead this team. If she does not lead this team we are in trouble, period.”

   Nazareth did draw to with six points twice in the third period. But CTK took a 51-43 lead into the fourth, and Smith remained unflappable against full-court pressure and Lauren Nuss finished her day with five 3-pointers and 19 points.

   More girls basketball: Junior guard Jamie O’Hare scored 20 points and shot 5-of-6 from the free-throw line down the stretch of No. 19 St. Peter's 49-46 win at No. 8 South Shore in non-league action.

   South Shore was riding momentum after beating state-ranked Mary Louis Academy and St. Anthony's last weekend.

   “Playing them at this point was going to be tough,” St. Peter's coach Bob Daggett told The New York Post.

   Christine Kline added eight points, eight assists and five steals for St. Peter’s.

   The victory gives the Eagles a boost for their rematch with Moore Catholic next Tuesday as they look to earn their 16th consecutive CHSAA Staten Island title.

   Boys basketball: Suffern got 37 points from Alex Odongo and defeated visiting Monroe-Woodbury 80-75 in a triple-overtime game.

   Mike Walsh scored 15 points and Billy Thompson and James Beyer added 14 for Monroe-Woodbury, but Suffern held a 45-15 advantage in free-throw attempts as six Crusaders fouled out.

   Postponed: Anticipating foul Saturday weather, Section 1 moved its respective league wrestling championship meets to today. The decision was made Friday.

   The Division 1 meet at is at Carmel, Division 2 at Horace Greeley, Division 3 at Harrison and Division 4 at Clarkstown South. The top four finishers in each weight class advance to the Section 1 Division I tournament Feb. 12-13 at Yonkers Lincoln.

   Honors: Abraham Lincoln two-way lineman Ishaq Williams is the only New York football player selected a Parade All-American in today's edition of the magazine. Williams signed a letter of intent last week with Notre Dame.

   Good reading: With the Section 2 basketball tournament edging closer, Times Union blogger Eric Medved takes an interesting look at 20 teams that could throw a scare into the front-runners.

   Speaking of blogs, "The View From Centercourt" continues to supply a wealth of information on what's happening in Section 6 and the Monsignor Martin Association. I wish there were more similar compilations around the state.

   Police blotter: Live Oak (Fla.) Suwannee goalkeeper Jared Andrew Hendry was arrested Friday on one count of felony battery for striking Ocala Trinity Catholic’s Brian Patric Reilly following Thursday night’s regional soccer playoff game.

   As players exchanged handshakes at midfield, insults were also traded and Heldry had to re restrained by teammates. He broke away and chased his antagonist before being hauled down by Reilly. According to the arrest report, Reilly was struck in the mouth by Hendry, breaking two front teeth.

   Hendry, 18, who was released on bond, has been suspended from the team, school AD Hunter Abercrombie said.

   The interesting twist is that Hendry and his teammates

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were reportedly upset by a lack of sportsmanship by Trinity Catholic players. Ahead 3-2 with about six minutes left, Trinity Catholic’s Kevin Vieira went down hard but play continued. Seeing Vieira down, Hendry reportedly kicked the ball out of bounds to stop play.

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   Suwannee players expected Trinity Catholic to throw the ball back to Hendry on the restart. Instead, the Celtics put the ball in play and scored with Hendry not expecting to have to defend.

   Texas tragedy: An autopsy determined that Dallas high school wrestler Charley "Chaz" Engelfried died of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a heart condition, after a match Thursday.

   Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is among the most common heart-related illnesses. "It's such an emotional issue when it happens, and it's horrible," said Dr. Michael Koester, chairman of both the Oregon School Activities Association's medical aspects of sports committee and the National Federation of High Schools sports medicine advisory committee. "I wish we could do everything possible to prevent it."

   Nationally, 24 high school students died from direct or indirect injuries suffered in sports during the 2008-09 season, according to the National Center for Catastrophic Sport Injury Research. Heart illness is the No. 1 killer.

   I'm not making this up: The Waunakee, Wisc., High dance team has been asked to tone down its routine for the upcoming state competition. Until now, the quad has been getting "crazy” while wearing uniforms resembling straitjackets and restraints with the words “Psych Ward” on them.

   After the local newspaper published photos of the dancers, complaints were lodged by mental health advocates and parents that their act mocks the mentally ill. “The pictures are quite disturbing,” said Hugh Davis, executive director of Wisconsin Family Ties. “We had parents and kids with mental health issues standing in the office with tears in their eyes. This brings up painful memories. It is incredibly insensitive.”

   Here's the best part: The dance team will cover up the words “Psych Ward” on the costumes, and will also read a statement prior to their performance which includes the one-sized-fits-all “we apologize to anyone we might have offended” apology.

   As the wire story points out, an apology is in itself a bit crazy. Either you feel you've done something wrong, in which case you ditch the routine ASAP. Or you say "we have nothing to apologize for" and continue with the performances. There is no logical middle ground.