All-out battles in semis of Shea-Gallo tourney

The annual girls’ basketball tournament at Mills — named after the beloved Lady Vikings coach who died in 2004 after a hard-fought battle with cancer — sees Sacred Heart Prep and St. Francis-Mountain View emerge from the eight-team bracket to advance to Friday’s championship game.

Sacred Heart Prep crashed boards, hammered home clutch lay-ups and rode the hot hand of sophomore Megan Norris to a 32-26 comeback victory over Sequoia in the first of Thursday’s two semifinal matchups. In the other semifinal game, St. Francis responded to a halftime tie with a flurry of scoring to start the second half in a 51-41 win over host Mills.

The undefeated Sacred Heart Prep Gators (4-0 overall) have been contending with a glut of injuries through the opening week of the 2018-19 season. So, when an ankle injury to Zoe Zaharias prevented the senior post player from taking the floor Thursday, the Gators turned to Norris, a 6-2 sophomore, to make the first start of her varsity career.

“With Zoe, one of our seniors and leaders, out, it just felt natural to get her into that spot,” SHP head coach Melanie Murphy said.

Norris responded with a clutch performance in the closing minutes. She totaled eight points in the game, five of which came in the final 1:38 of regulation. And to that point, the Gators never led in the game.

Amid a 26-26 tie, Norris got the free-throw line and knocked down the pair to give SHP its first lead of the night. The next time down the court, she took aim from the corner and drained a 3-pointer to all but put the game on ice.

While Norris has been shooting with some frequency from beyond the arc this season, her response was quick to the question as to how many 3-pointers she took last year: “None.”

“Even last year, she was one of our best shooters,” Murphy said. “She just didn’t shoot it. … She’s just growing in confidence.”

Norris said she refined her stroke during the offseason playing AAU basketball with Peninsula Elite of the Peninsula Basketball Club. The work she put in has been reinforced by Murphy, who has encouraged the 6-2 center to trust her outside shot. And that was precisely the message when Norris reentered Thursday’s game late in the fourth quarter.

“My coach put me in and told me to shoot,” Norris said.

SHP junior guard Charlotte Levison scored a game-high 13 points, but it was her aggressive tenacity to the ball and her several key rebounds that kept the Gators within striking distance down the stretch.

Sequoia (1-1) was led by senior center Soana Afu’s 10 points. Sophomore forward Caitlin Dulsky added seven.

“We’re going to be good,” Sequoia head coach Steve Picchi said. “We’ve got to clean up a few little things but they’re going to be good. We played well but [SHP] finished better than we did.”

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