ONTARIO — Shelby Grover played beyond her years.
A freshman guard, Grover scored eight of her 11 points in the second half as Lucas knocked off Ontario 48-41 on Tuesday at the O-Rena.
The youngest of three Grover sisters on the Lucas roster, Shelby connected on a pair of second-half 3-pointers as the Cubs (14-2) rallied from a first-quarter deficit. Her trey with 2:47 remaining in the third quarter gave Lucas a 35-27 advantage and her triple with 6:41 to play in the fourth pushed the lead to 42-32.
“My sisters always tell me to keep shooting,” Shelby said. “Today I was on.”
The Cubs trailed 16-13 after the opening period and 20-15 after back-to-back layups by Ontario’s Makayla Minard early in the second before coming to life. Lucas closed the quarter on a 10-4 run to grab a 25-24 halftime edge.
The Cubs continued to build on their lead early in the third. A pair of Jessie Grover free throws gave Lucas a 37-27 advantage with 1:49 to play in the third but the Warriors closed on a 5-0 run to cut the Cubs’ advantage to 37-32 going to the fourth.
“We’re not scoring consistently enough,” Ontario coach Mitch Willeke said. “We told the kids it’s a tough thing to do, to be consistent.
“They did a good job of taking away passing lanes and forcing us to do things we didn’t want to.”
Lucas scored the first seven points of the fourth quarter to ice it. A Jessie Grover layup less than a minute into the period gave the Cubs a 39-32 lead before Shelby Grover scored five straight points for a 44-32 advantage.
The Warriors responded with a 3-pointer by Ashten Vavra and an offensive rebound and putback by Carleigh Pearson to make it 44-37 with 1:25 to play. That’s as close as Ontario would get.
Paige Arnold led Lucas with 14 points. Jessie Grover matched Shelby Grover with 11 and Morgan Sweat had seven.
“It’s huge for everybody to contribute because then (opponents) can’t just focus on one or two,” Lucas coach Kathy Grover said. “If they have to focus on three, I’ll take that but four or five makes it even better.”
Pearson paced the Warriors with 12 points. Vavra had eight, while Mecca Sewell added six.
