GIRLS’ BASKETBALL PLAYOFFS : Holm Pours in 44, but Carlsbad Goes to Finals

El Cajon Valley’s Heather Holm put on one of more incredible individual shooting performances in San Diego Section girls’ basketball playoff history Wednesday night--scoring 44 points, including 19 in the fourth quarter as she rallied her team from a 12-point deficit to send the game into overtime at Rancho Bernardo High.

But Holm ran out of miracles in overtime. Carlsbad held her scoreless and ran away with a 73-68 victory and a berth in the Division II finals Saturday at the Sports Arena.

El Cajon’s Reco Edwards scored the first two points of overtime, but Carlsbad’s Vanessa Nygaard took over from there--scoring five of the Lancers’ seven points and grabbing three of her 25 rebounds.

The victory avenges Carlsbad’s 55-42 loss to El Cajon in last year’s section finals.

But Nygaard was simply happy to withstand the onslaught of Holm, who scored El Cajon’s last 15 points of regulation.

“I was just saying, “Damn, I can’t believe what she’s doing,’ ” Nygaard said. “She was making shots I couldn’t believe.”

Nygaard finished with 22 points, but Holly Gerdes led the Lancers with 23 points.

Top-seeded Carlsbad (22-2) also got a big game from guard Dawn Laukes, who scored 19 points on nine of 14 shooting.

Laukes had the unenviable task of chasing Holm around all night.

“I’ve never seen her shoot like that,” Laukes said.

But in overtime, Holm was 0 for 4 from the field. El Cajon finished 22-5.

“We were pretty confident in overtime, but I think we got too excited,” Holm said.