TERRA CEIA — The Terra Ceia girls’ basketball team’s inability to finish shots down the stretch spoiled the return of senior guard Taylor Newman on Senior Night, as the Knights fell to Lawrence, 44-37, on Friday.

Newman, who missed seven games recovering from a broken nose, provided a breath of fresh air for the Knights’ backcourt defensively, but finished with just six points and five rebounds in limited time.

“She’s not in playing form yet,” said head coach Daren Hubers. “Her shot selection wasn’t very good and offensively, she wasn’t where she needs to be at, but it’s her first game back and she’ll get there.”

With a top spot in the Tarheel Independent Conference on the line, Terra Ceia, which entered with a 5-1-conference record, kept pace with Warriors guards early, using the speed of sophomore Rebecca Harrison to its advantage. Despite Newman’s return, Harrison was tasked with running the offense. Throughout the night, she worked through Ragan LaFever and Catherine Meijer in the paint, both of which had a couple inches on their counterparts.

The system worked well, but Lawrence’s Sydney Brabble had an answer, scoring eight first quarter points. After a three-pointer from Harley West, Brabble drained the clock on the ensuing possession and hit a buzzer-beating layup off a quick inside feed to end the quarter.

Terra Ceia continued to stay defensively poised in the second quarter and held Lawrence to just five points, all scored by Kayla Hoffman. Similar to the game earlier in the week against Pungo, Harrison’s ability to pressure the opposing guards resulted in multiple turnovers, but the Knights’ had difficulty finishing easy layups on the other end. Both teams entered halftime with the score knotted at 16.

“Defensively, I don’t know if it was because we were tired, but we broke down for a stretch,” Hubers said. “We tried to go man-to-man and our guards were letting penetration in the lane, so we had to go back to something else to try to stop the penetration.”

LaFever and Newman controlled the boards for Terra Ceia out of the break. However, a handful of missed jumpers, layups and free throws (1-for-5) in the third quarter expanded the lead for Lawrence.

It was a similar story through the final minutes, as Meijer notched six rebounds and LeFever four, but both had difficulty finishing. A late push by the Knights pulled the deficit to within single digits. In the end, however, Lawrence escaped with a crucial away victory.

“We need to get a little better on defense. We’re scoring enough points to win games in this conference, but our defense needs to improve,” Hubers said.

For Lawrence, Brabble finished with a game-high 17 points, while Hoffman notched 10. LaFever led the Knights with 12 points and Meijer recorded seven points and 11 rebounds.

With the loss, Terra Ceia drops to 10-6 (5-2 TIC) and will host Albemarle on Tuesday.