One of the Bears’ strongest challenges came Wednesday night when they hosted North Tonawanda, the No. 1 Class AA team in the state.

Frewsburg showed it was up to the challenge, leading the Lady Jacks 51-49 after three quarters. However, the shots were only falling on one end of the floor in the fourth quarter and North Tonawanda escaped with a 68-61 victory.

“I think we were a couple shots away from coming down to a fun finish,” Frewsburg head coach Sierra Beaver said about the game. “But shots didn’t fall. This is our seventh game in 13 days. It’s tough. We have another game tomorrow, so we’re kind of playing on tired legs a little bit. You get to the fourth quarter after playing that hard and not a lot of subbing (and) it’s going to be tough to make some shots. I think we missed some inside that I would have liked to have back.”

It was an offensive showcase to start. The Bears thrived attacking the glass and overwhelmed North Tonawanda with their full-court press. However, the Lady Jacks hit five of their eight 3-pointers in the opening period to keep up with Frewsburg and led 24-23.

North Tonawanda’s Lilly Day attempts to get by Frewsburg’s Presleigh Stelmack during Wednesday’s nonleague girls basketball game in Frewsburg. P-J photo by Christian Storms

Each defense began to settle in as the game went on, and open shots became hard to find. Even after winning many second chances, the Bears had a hard time finding the rhythm they had in the opening quarter.

“I felt like we gave up way too many open looks in the first quarter,” Beaver said. “They’re a good shooting team and we had to chase them off the line. I don’t think we did a very good job of that. We missed quite a few rotations. I felt like our defense got better quicker every quarter. I think defensively we got into a bit of a groove on both sides that made it a bit more difficult to score.”

Fighting for many of those second chances the entire game for Frewsburg was sophomore Elysse Gruber, who pulled down 17 rebounds, including eight on the offensive glass.

“As I told them in the locker room, the part I love more is the fact her knees and elbows look like she’s been through war because she absolutely sacrifices her body,” Beaver said. “There were two times tonight where there is maybe a 20% chance we get the ball on a loose ball and she completely laid out and sacrificed herself for the team and came up with the ball.”

Jadyn Trocki and Abery Harvey added another six rebounds each, six in total on the offensive end.

North Tonawanda showed its Class AA depth in the fourth quarter as Gabriella Cashion scored 6 of her 14 points to help the Lady Jacks regain the lead. Then, Annabelle Day hit key free throws to keep the game out of reach.

“I don’t think anyone expects a Class C school to play with the No. 1-ranked Class AA school in the state,” Beaver said. “We were able to do that. I was really impressed with our girls and our work ethic. I felt like we did a really great job on the boards, and playing against their level defense with how many girls they have on offense that can score is invaluable experience coming down the line.”

North Tonawanda (14-2) was led by Annabelle Day with 25 points, Lilly Day had 18 and Cashion provided her 14.

Despite being three class sizes smaller, Frewsburg (14-4) received big games from its depth players instead of just relying on Trocki and Harvey to do all of the heavy lifting.

“That’s kind of been our focus all year,” Beaver said about her team’s depth. “Last year we had seven girls that could score at any time. This year coming in we lost a lot of that firepower. We need to really figure out how to generate some offense other than Abery and Jadyn. I thought as the season’s gone on every single game those role players have been able to contribute even more and more. Hopefully another week of working on some things and we’ll have five players on the floor that are a threat.”

Trocki still paced the Bears with 18 points, eight assists, five steals and a block; Harvey provided 16 points and two assists; Jaden Jimerson scored 16 points with three assists; and Gruber made five assists and a block.

Frewsburg’s exhausting schedule continues tonight against Cassadaga Valley as the Bears look to close out a perfect league season and then it meets Sherman on Monday at Jamestown Community College.

NORTH TONAWANDA (68)

LDay 5 5 18, Caron 3 0 6, ADay 9 3 25, Cashion 6 1 14, D’Andrea 2 1 5, King 0 0 0. Totals 25 10 68.

FREWSBURG (61)

Trocki 7 2 18, Jimerson 8 0 16, Stelmack 1 0 3, Moore 0 0 0, Harvey 6 2 16, Gruber 2 4 8. Totals 24 8 61.

3-point goals–LDay 3, ADay 4, Cashion, Trocki 2, Stelmack, Harvey 2.

North Tonawanda 24 14 11 19 — 68

Frewsburg 23 12 16 10 — 61