Lurhs’ 3 spree lifts Terra Nova girls over HMB

And she likes to shoot in the clutch, as the Terra Nova senior demonstrated Friday night in her Tigers’ 56-53 overtime victory at home against archrival Half Moon Bay.

With five minutes to play, Terra Nova trailed by 10. But Luhrs punctuated a thrilling comeback with an exclamation 3-pointer to tie it 49-49 with 10 seconds in regulation to force overtime. Then midway through the OT period, Luhrs drained another 3, this time to give Terra Nova the lead for good at 55-53.

A second-year varsity player, and sixth-man sharpshooter off the bench, Lurhs has produced plenty of shots from beyond the arc before. Friday night’s heroics, however, were a new to the senior guard.

“Nothing like that,” Luhrs said.

Luhrs’ shooting prowess was just one dimension of Terra Nova’s comeback march, though. The Tigers were ferocious on defense down the stretch, as Half Moon Bay didn’t convert a field goal over the closing eight minutes — including the last five minutes of regulation and all three minutes of overtime.

“[Terra Nova] turned up the energy,” Half Moon Bay head coach Antonio Veloso said, “and it created a little more havoc and stressed our girls a lot more.”

Terra Nova (6-1 PAL North, 10-8 overall) was equally as tenacious on the boards, grabbing several key offensive rebounds in overtime. In fact, it was an offensive board by sophomore Amaya Gonzalez that set up Luhrs’ go-ahead 3.

Half Moon Bay had just taken the lead 53-52 on two free throws by freshman Abby Kennedy. At the other end, a missed Terra Nova 3 found the reach of Gonzalez, who kicked it to Luhrs for the big splash with 1:25 remaining in OT.

“Our team is aggressive on those offensive rebounds,” Luhrs said. “So if they’re in there rebounding, I’m going to go out to the 3-point line and look for an open shot.”

Half Moon Bay (3-3, 7-9) proved a tough offense to keep in check, especially in the second half. With Terra Nova leading by a mere 17-15 score at halftime, the Cougars went on a tear in the third quarter, outscoring the Tigers 21-13.

“We started breaking the press the way we’re supposed to,” Veloso said.

The young Cougars were in foul trouble through the final quarter of regulation though. So, when senior point guard Mailie Bowers fouled out with 37 seconds to go — despite HMB leading 48-43 at the time — it proved too much for Half Moon Bay to overcome.

“Once they don’t have an extra ball handler, then we can ramp up on our defense,” Terra Nova head coach Kawann Summerville said.

Terra Nova senior Caitlyn Carnecer converted 1 of 2 free throws courtesy of Bowers’ fifth foul to close it to 48-44. She missed the second one, with Half Moon Bay grabbing the rebound, but the Cougars player stepped on the baseline to force a turnover.

The Cougars got to the free-throw line again just seconds later. This time it was senior Morgan Fillipo hitting 1 of 2, closing the deficit to 49-46. On the inbound pass to follow, Terra Nova tied up the possession to force a jump ball. Half Moon Bay had the possession arrow and received another inbound, so the Tigers simply did it again, tying up for another jump ball, this time giving them possession with 15.7 seconds to go.

“Once we got that little turnover under the basket, it set up the 3 for Lisa,” Summerville said.

Veloso chalked up the late letdown to a learning experience, noting Half Moon Bay — without Bowers — was fielding four underclassmen, including two freshmen. Albeit, Kennedy is far from a typical freshman, as she went for a double-double with 19 points and 11 rebounds.

“You’re dealing with kids that don’t understand they (the other team) want to win just as bad as you do,” Veloso said. “You’ve got to hold your ground.”

Carnecer and Fillipo shared Terra Nova’s team-high with 10 points apiece. Luhrs, sophomore Kapua Wong Hin and sophomore Ashley Ng had nine apiece.