Junior Melissa Corraro almost rallied the Shelton High girls basketball team to a come-from-behind home victory on Friday.
Corraro (10 points, two rebounds, two assists, one steal) hit two layups in a span of 1:07, the second one coming off a steal at midcourt, to pull Shelton within two points of Sheehan High, 38 – 36 with 5:05 remaining in the game.
“I read the pass and I was able to steal the ball,” said Corraro.
However, the Gaelettes went ice cold after that, scoring no points the rest of the way, and were hurt by a few rebounding relapses as well. In the end, Sheehan raised its record to 8 – 2 with a 50 – 36 victory over Shelton (2 – 8).
“I’m frustrated,” said Gaelettes coach Mary Maciulewski. “We didn’t box out when we needed to. In fact, we didn’t box out at all and it’s one of my pet peeves.”
Following Corrao’s second layup, Shelton had trouble grabbing the defensive rebound as the Lady Titans grabbed two offensive rebounds on the other end of the court. Chelsea Nealon grabbed the second offensive rebound and drew the foul. Nealon hit both free throws and Sheehan led, 40 – 36.
“That definitely hurt us,” said Gaelette senior tri-captain Jen Spicer. “We were getting closer before that play.”
Corraro said, “They just outhustled us to the glass.”
Shelton wasn’t able to make a basket the rest of the way but stayed alive briefly because of its defense, which forced a five-second violation off an inbounds play. Spicer (four points, three rebounds, one assist, three steals) also forced a travel violation.
“We didn’t give up,” said Maciulewski, when asked if she could take any positives from the game.
The Gaelettes got a few offensive rebounds off misses down the stretch with sophomore Bianka Bell (five points, one trey, six rebounds, one steal) grabbed two offensive rebounds down the stretch but couldn’t put it back in and freshman Alyssa Eanotti (four points, four rebounds, one steal) grabbed an offensive rebound but didn’t convert it. Sophomore Kelsey Pendagast (seven points, six rebounds, two blocked shots) also had an offensive rebound down the stretch and almost all of her five out of six of her rebounds came off the offensive glass.
Sheehan led throughout, starting with a 12 – 6 advantage after one quarter and 29 – 21 at the half. Shelton made a slight dent in the third quarter and trailed 36 – 29 after three quarters. The Gaelettes used the momentum and began the final quarter with a 7 – 2 run before things fell apart for them.
Senior tri-captain Erin Chuma (two points, three rebounds, one blocked shot) and juniors Molly Hanko (two points), Kelly LaRue (two points) and Melissa Brouillet (one assist) also contributed for Shelton. Corraro was 6‑for‑6 from the free throw line.
“I do what I always do and I followed through [from the foul line],” said Corraro.
Shelton was 9‑for-14 overall from the charity stripe. The Lady Titans were 15-for-20 from the foul line.
“We didn’t box out when we needed to,” said Chuma. “We didn’t make our layups.”
Spicer said, “We didn’t get our momentum going to make a comeback.”
The Gaelettes host Branford High next Friday at 7 p.m.
“Hopefully, we’ll get the win and get on a winning streak,” said Corraro.
