Today:

BOYS: Chautauqua Lake vs. Middle Early College, 5:15 p.m. at Jamestown Community College.

The 5-seed in Class C1, Chautauqua Lake kicked off its playoff run with a thrilling victory on the road in Silver Creek last Friday. Now, the task is even more daunting for the Thunderbirds as they head to JCC to face the top seed in the class, Middle Early College, tonight. MEC (17-4) comes in on a 10 game win streak, with a total of 200 points in its last two games. In the first round of the sectional playoffs, MEC throttled Portville, 102-19.

Chautauqua Lake (12-9) had Luke Waters tie a school record with seven 3-pointers in the team’s last game, and combined with Zach Fischer, the two tallied 50 of the 70 Chautauqua Lake points. The Thunderbirds will need to have big performances from multiple players once again if Mike Putney’s squad hopes to compete against the MEC Kats tonight.

OBSERVER Photo by Ron Szot Fredonia’s Kazlin Beers dribbles the ball during a game earlier this year during the regular season.

Tuesday:

BOYS: Fredonia vs. City Honors, 5:15 p.m. at Buffalo State College.

Coming off of a pair of losing seasons before coach Nick Bertrando took over, the Fredonia Hillbillies are now officially back in the spotlight at Buff. State on Tuesday against No. 4 City Honors.

They certainly announced their presence in dominant fashion.

Fredonia thoroughly dominated Class B1’s top seed, Medina, on Saturday. The Hillbillies never trailed in the game and held a double digit lead for two and a half quarters. It’s not often in any bracket that a 9-seed blows out a 1-seed, but Fredonia (14-8) is no ordinary 9-seed. Now the Hillbillies sit just one win away from an appearance in the Class B1 title game, with 4-seed City Honors (18-3) in its way. City Honors has won its last four games, with the last three wins all by double digits. Three players for the 4-seed Centaurs average 12 points per game or more, led by guard Jaden Slaughter at 21.7 points per game. Containing him will be a tough task for the Hillbillies, who frequently play man-to-man defense.

City Honors will be no easy task, but the Hillbillies have been challenged with tough competition all season long. City Honors is just the next team in line for the Hillbillies to face.

Wednesday:

GIRLS: Silver Creek vs. Falconer, 5 p.m. at Jamestown Community College.

For the second year in a row, the Silver Creek girls kicked off the sectional playoffs by running over Cattaraugus/Little Valley at home by a sizable margin. Now, after the 2-seed in the Class C1 girls basketball bracket was upset, Silver Creek (15-6, 3-seed) faces off with 7-seed Falconer on Wednesday with a spot in the Class C1 final at stake.

Silver Creek comes in on a modest three game winning streak, but with all three wins coming by more than 20 points, the manner in which the Black Knights have played is anything but modest. Star freshman Abby Rice — who recently eclipsed the 1,000 point mark in her career in her third varsity season — has scored more than 20 points in six straight games. She averages over 21 points on the season. Falconer (6-14) might have a tough time finding an answer for Abby Rice on Wednesday, and if she continues this torrid scoring pace, Silver Creek could easily wind up in the sectional final on Saturday afternoon at JCC.

Thursday:

GIRLS: Fredonia vs. East Aurora, 5:30 p.m. at Kenmore West High School.

After 17 years and four sectional titles under former head coach Carol Zirkle, the Fredonia Lady ‘Billies program certainly had the blueprint to postseason success, regardless of what seed they enter the playoffs as. This year, Mark Putney stepped into the seat on the Fredonia bench with hopes of continuing the success that many have been accustomed to seeing from Fredonia come playoff time.

After a first round upset of 3-seed Springville and a second round upset of Newfane, it’s safe to say Putney’s girls have surpassed every expectation they had this year. Now, the lowest seed in the Class B1 bracket, Fredonia is set to play 2-seed East Aurora in the sectional semifinals.

While Fredonia may have finished the division race at the bottom and entered the playoff bracket in the same seat, the Lady ‘Billies have proved the doubters wrong to this point in the playoffs. With the postseason success in all sports that the Fredonia community — and Putney’s team, filled with multi-sport athletes — have become accustomed to, the regular season is not what Fredonia is measured by, its playoff success that sticks in the minds of the Hillbilly fans. So far, this year’s Lady ‘Billies have been plenty memorable already. Thursday, they have another shot to make a lasting impression.

Twitter: @bradencarmen