NORTON SHORES – High school athletes are very young, and some are wary of being in the spotlight in pressure situations when their team is counting on them.

Mona Shores’ Olivia Sobczak isn’t one of those players, and she showed it at in the fourth quarter on Tuesday night, as her team battled undefeated Grand Haven down to the wire.

She nailed two buckets in the fourth quarter to help Mona Shores keep pace in the low-scoring contest. She also hit a pair of free throws down the stretch, including the game-winner with eight seconds left, to give the Sailors an exciting 38-37 victory over the Bucs in an early season battle of two of the best girls basketball teams in the area.

“I love being in that position,” said Sobczak, a senior who scored a game-high 12 points, including six in the fourth quarter. “We’ve been working on pressure free throws in practice, and that felt good.”

“She’s a senior, a returning captain, and she thrives on those situations,” said Mona Shores Coach Mike Phillips. “If we’re going to win or lose a ballgame, there is no better kid to have at the line in those situations.”

Mona Shores improved to 3-1 with the victory and continued to overcome a tough loss to defending Division 1 state champion Hudsonville in Game 2 of the season.

The Sailors started out in a hole with cold shooting and trailed 14-6 after one quarter and 23-20 at halftime.

They never got really hot from the floor, but the defense clamped down in the second half, holding the Bucs to five points in the third quarter and nine in the fourth.

With Grand Haven’s offense neutralized, the Sailors were able play-bucket-for-bucket with the visitors and take advantage of opportunities as the clock ran down.

“We missed about every single shot we were taking (in the first half),” Coach Phillips said. “We were missing the entire gym. We were missing threes, we were missing layups, it didn’t matter. I think in the last four minutes of the second quarter our defense kicked in, and that defense tuned into offensive opportunities.”

Mona Shores led 29-28 headed into the fourth, then every point became precious for both teams.

The game was tied 31-31 with 4:27 left. Sobczak hit a bucket with 2:59 remaining to put Mona Shores on top 34-33. The Bucs took their last lead at 35-34 when Molly Long nailed a jumper with 2:17 remaining.

Mona Shores’ Khaleeya Cook went to the line twice and hit three of four free throws, giving the Sailors a 37-35 lead with 27 seconds left. Grand Haven’s Zoe Spoelman nailed two free throws with 10 seconds remaining, knotting the score at 37-37, before Sobczak went to the line, hit her first and missed her second, putting the Sailors up by one.

Grand Haven inbounded the ball and had a final chance to win, but a layup attempt rolled away as the clock expired, and Mona Shores held on for the win.

“They have always been one of our rivals, and this is my last time playing them on our court, so it felt good to get a win,” Sobczak said.

Cook finished with 11 points for the Sailors while Jenna Tierman scored eight points and Mia Brown had five.

Spoelman led Grand Haven with 10 points, Long finished with nine and Emerson Berndt scored eight.

“That’s a good team and we didn’t play particularly well, but this game won’t define our season,” said Grand Haven Coach Katie Kowalczyk-Fulmer, whose team is now also 3-1. “This is a team we will probably have to play in districts. We will be better by then. But our kids played hard tonight. The ball bounces in different ways. We’re over it. We’ve got Spring Lake on Friday and we’ll get back to work.”