NORTH TONAWANDA — North Tonawanda left the Niagara Frontier League in search of greener pastures as an independent and through four games this season, they have come up with a mixed bag.
The Lumberjacks are not worried, however. Instead the focus is on the rest of the season and using the higher level of competition to prepare themselves for a playoffs and a run deep into March. A run that University at Buffalo signee Annabelle Day hopes ends with a banner being hung up.
As if the higher level of competition and travel was not enough of a challenge though, this is also new head coach Ryan Bradt’s first season as the bench boss. Bradt said the challenges that he has faced as the head coach are finding 20 teams to play and organizing travel.
This season, the Lumberjacks independent schedule will see them play teams from as far west as Pittsford, New York and as far east as Erie, Pennsylvania all in an effort to try to prepare themselves for the playoffs. The North Tonawanda team, which Bradt said is already an incredibly tight-knit group, will only grow closer as the teams traverse the region this season.
The Lumberjacks are 2-2 with wins over Amherst and Section VI’s Bishop Kearney and losses against Frewsburg and Saint Mary’s of Lancaster.
“We’ve just grown with realizing that we have to be prepared every day, every practice,” Bradt said. “There’s no days off with our schedule. We have to be ready; win the day in practice and then we win a few days there in practice then we can actually have a chance to compete on gameday.”
The Lumberjacks’ losses to Frewsburg and Saint Mary’s were the first time that they had lost back-to-back games since Dec. 22, 2023-Jan. 4, 2024. The Jacks ended the losing streak though with a 88-43 win over Bishop Kearney on Dec. 11.
Bradt said he felt like his team got punched in the face early in this season and that they did not come ready to play against Frewsburg and came up short against Saint Mary’s but they are ready to keep looking forward. The need to play your best basketball for all four quarters is something that was echoed by Anabelle.
“Every team has five or more great players and we’re playing public schools, private schools. Everyone is great,” Annabelle said. “So the biggest thing is just coming to play, ready to play hard all four quarters.”
The Lumberjacks are one of two independent basketball teams in the region alongside the Niagara Falls boys’ basketball team.
“I think they (the Jacks) have to prepare every day, every game knowing that everyone’s going to bring their best against us and we have to be ready,” Bradt said. “There’s no days off where we can just roll the ball out there and go play. We got to be ready mentally and physically.”
The team is led by sisters Annabelle and Lilly Day who have scored 131 of the team’s 257 points this season as Annabelle leads the squad averaging 20 points-per-game while Lilly is averaging 12.7 points per game. The third leading point-getter on the team is senior Gabriella Cashion who is averaging 10.7 points per game.
Last year in the Niagara Frontier League, the Lumberjacks went 14-1 and ended their season 20-3 overall, making it to the Section VI Class AA title game where they lost 50-43 to Starpoint. In reflecting upon what has made the team as talented as they have been in recent years, Day put it down to the fact that they have athletes up and down the roster.
“We’ve played with each other since our whole high school career,” Cashion said. “Me and Anabelle played when we were in fifth and sixth grade. So we know …how we play and know what we’re doing on the court and know our positions and everybody else. .. We all know how to play cause we’ve been playing together for so long.”