ONTARIO, Ohio — A little foul trouble didn’t seem to bother Ontario’s Nashail Shelby during the Richland Source NOL-OCC Challenge.
Shelby, the Richland Bank Athlete of the Week, scored 40 points as the Warriors picked up wins over Lexington and Madison to improve to 4-3 on the season. The 5-foot-9 sophomore had 13 points and grabbed five rebounds before fouling out in Ontario’s 46-40 win over Lady Lex on Friday. The following night, Shelby again found herself in foul trouble but still dropped a game-high 27 points in limited action in a 58-46 win over the Rams.
“She got into foul trouble early. She picked up two fouls pretty quickly and had to sit for a while in the first half,” Ontario coach Sarah Krichbaum said Saturday night. “We wanted to get her a little more involved in the second half and she stepped up.”
The Warriors (4-3) trailed Madison at the half Saturday night before Shelby took over. Her 3-pointer early in the third quarter gave Ontario a lead it wouldn’t relinquish. The Warriors outscored the Rams 18-6 in the period with Shelby scoring 10 points.
“We thought we had a good match-up with Brooklyn Gross on her,” Madison coach Brian Davis said. “You can’t lose a player like that. You’ve got to know where she is at all times and unfortunately we were unable to find her.”
In Friday’s win over Lexington, Shelby scored seven points in the first quarter on 3 of 4 shooting and had nine points at the break, but picked up her third and fourth fouls in the third quarter. With Shelby relegated to the role of spectator, Lexington closed the quarter on an 8-0 run and cut what was a 19-points deficit to four points in the fourth quarter.
“We got into foul trouble and we’re not very deep in the post,” Krichbaum said. “It forced us to play a little less aggressive.”
With two wins over the weekend, the Warriors improved to 4-3 and have nearly matched their win total from a season ago. Ontario was 6-14 last year.
“We have improved in ways every game,” Krichbaum said. “We’re not where we want to be yet, but the girls are getting better.”
Ontario has just one senior on the roster. Shelby and Amanda Nething, an All-Ohio soccer player, headline the sophomore class. Nething scored 10 points in Ontario’s win over Madison and had nine points and 12 rebounds in the win over Lex.
“We’re a lot better this year,” said senior Olivia Shaver. “We still have a young team, but we played a lot of young girls last year. We’re a lot more experienced.”
