The North Tonawanda Lady Jacks are headed to Buffalo State University to play in the Class AA final after defeating the Kenmore West Lady Blue Devils 56-40 at Maryvale High School on Thursday evening.
For the Lady Jacks, it’s a chance to take home a Section VI title – something the program has never done. They’ll be able to attempt that feat on Sunday morning against Starpoint.
“Getting the opportunity to win a sectional title for the first time ever feels great,” Lady Jacks coach Mike Mills said. “I’ve been here for three years and Gabriella Cashion’s been with me for all three years. But she was on the team the year before I got here, and we were talking this week how she's now been to four semifinals, and that's where it's always ended.
“All week long, every time I looked at her and asked, ‘How we doing?’ she would say, I'm not losing this game.’ And now, we’re moving on to Buffalo State.”
Cashion, a junior who led the team in scoring with 17 points, felt euphoric following the game.
“This is my fourth year on varsity, and I’ve really wanted to go to Buffalo State,” Cashion said. “It's just an amazing feeling.”
It was a contest in which defense ruled the day, as the Lady Jacks, who maintained a two-point lead going into the second quarter, completely shut down their opponent to race out to a 30-14 lead by halftime and never looked back.
It was also a game in which Annabelle Day – the Lady Jacks’ all-time leading scorer – didn’t need to do much to help her team get in the win column. Hobbled by an injury, she still put up eight points while feeding the ball to Cashion (17 points), Jakayla Brown (11) and her sister Lilly (11) and playing solid defense.
After the game, Ken West coach Jeff Martin tipped his cap to North Tonawanda.
“I thought the first quarter we were really hitting some shots and everything was working well for us,” Martin said. “But to NT’s credit, they had a game plan to get the ball down each side to their big and it worked, and that hurt us a lot. We were getting in foul trouble and the shots weren’t falling for us. Who would think that we would kind of stop the Days a little bit from having a big game, and then still end up losing by 20? I am so proud of our team, they never quit until the end and that's been the way they've done things all season long.”
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