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Grass Lake sophomore Gabrielle Lutchka (center) holds up a '58' while celebrating with her teammates after her state-record 16 made 3-pointers in a single against Manchester on Thursday, Feb. 20, 2020. (Photo courtesy of Andrea Cabana).
JACKSON, MI – Gabrielle Lutchka was feeling it Thursday night.
The sophomore wing for the Grass Lake girls basketball team has always been a consistent contributor for the Warriors, but she took her game to a historic level during a 95-31 rout of Manchester in Cascades Conference action.
Lutchka found a spot against the Flying Dutchmen’s matchup zone defense and proceeded to knock down 16 three-pointers to score 58 points and set a Michigan high school record for made 3-pointers in a single game.
The previous record was 15 made 3-pointers by Maureen O’Malley of Taylor Light & Life during a Sept. 22, 1998 game against Detroit East Catholic. The boys high school record is 15 by Matt Kitchen of Mayville during a Feb. 16, 2001 game against Bay City All Saints.
“She was just locked in tonight,” said Grass Lake head coach Andrea Cabana. “Manchester played a triangle-and-two defense against us to try and slow down Abrie (Cabana) and Lexi (Bargesser), but that left Gabi wide open. She knocked down the first couple of shot attempts and got into a nice rhythm.
“After that, it just turned into a fun game of pass the ball to Gabi and she was just feeling it with her shot. She finished 16-of-20 on her 3-point attempts, so she was very efficient with her shot, too."
The record-setting performance nearly triples Lutchka’s career-high for made 3-pointers in a game. She knocked down six 3-pointers against Springport during a Dec. 10, 2019 game, but Cabana isn’t completely shocked to see her sophomore wing knocking down open looks.
“She’s a very good shooter, so I’m not stunned to see her shoot so well,” she said. “She’s always good for a couple of 3-pointers a game, but I don’t think you can ever predict someone to break a state record for made 3-pointers in a single game like this.”
Lutchka’s 58 points place her in a tie for seventh-place overall for points scored in a single game and breaks the Grass Lake school record in the process.
Grass Lake's Gabrielle Lutchka (32) goes up for three over Michigan Center's Shealyn Tripp (23) during the fourth quarter of a high school basketball game, Thursday, Dec. 13, 2018 in Michigan Center. Michigan Center won, 57-30. (Nikos Frazier | MLive.com)Nikos Frazier
Lexus Bargesser added 14 points, eight assists and six rebounds, while Abrie Cabana had 10 points and 10 assists, Lauren Pongracz added five points, four rebounds and three assists and Amber Boomer had six points.
“The fun part was that everyone on the team was so excited for her to break the record,” added Cabana. “The state record for assists in one game is 14, and I’m pretty sure Lexi or Abrie could have broken that tonight, but they basically split it up between them.”
Grass Lake (15-2, 11-1 Cascades) will host Adrian Lenawee Christian (16-2), the top-ranked team in Division 4, in a non-conference showdown at 7 p.m. next Tuesday.
“That will be a battle,” said Cabana. “They are coming off a state championship last year and have most of their key players back. Dani and Bree Salenbien are difficult players to account for, but we are excited about the opportunity to test ourselves at home against one of the better teams in the state.”
After Thursday night’s performance, the Cougars won’t likely leave No. 32 in blue open.
“We feel like pretty much everyone on our team can shoot if they’re open,” said Cabana. We know Abrie, Lexi and Gabi can shoot at a high clip, but having Gabi set a state record for made 3-pointers in a game is just going stress out opposing defenses more.”