It was a tale of two halves for the Shelton girls basketball team on Wednesday.
Shelton was abysmal in the first half and fell behind at the break, 28 – 12 at West Haven, but came back strong in the second half.
The Gaelettes didn’t allow host West Haven to score in the fourth quarter and cut the lead down to one, but in the end, the Lady Blue Devils escaped with a 34 – 33 win.
West Haven raised its record to 4 – 12 and remains alive, albeit barely, for a Class LL playoff berth. Shelton dropped to 2 – 13 and was eliminated from the Class LL playoffs.
“We need to play four quarters, not [just] two quarters,” Gaelettes Coach Mary Maciulewski. “We need to play 32 minutes of Gaelette basketball. We were ice cold in the first half.”
Sophomore Kelsey Pendagast (six points, 11 rebounds, two steals, one blocked shot, one tieup, one forced turnover) controlled the paint for Shelton and was its bright spot in the first half. Pendagast scored all six of her points in the first
half, hitting two putbacks off the offensive glass and two free throws.
The Gaelettes tied it once, 2 – 2 on Pendagast’s first putback, but fell behind for good after sophomore McKenzie Farquharson’s (13 points) layup. Turnovers plagued Shelton as it committed 23 turnovers, 15 in the first half. West Haven took advantage of the miscues and had a 28 – 12 halftime lead.
Juniors Melissa Brouillet (two rebounds, one blocked shot) and Molly Hanko (three rebounds) complemented Pendagast inside in the first half.
“We didn’t play well in the first half,” Gaelettes senior tri-captain Jen Spicer said.
Farquharson opened the second half scoring with a layup to extend the lead to 18, 30 – 12. Just when things looked bleak for Shelton, it started to come back. Senior tri-captain Erin Chuma (five points, Farquharson opened the second half scoring with a layup to extend the lead to 18, 30 – 12. Just when things looked bleak for Shelton, it started to come back. Senior tri-captain Erin Chuma (five points, four rebounds, one steal, one forced turnovers) and junior Melissa Corraro swished back-to-back 3‑pointers to start the rally, cutting the lead to 12, 30 – 18 with 4:42 remaining in the third quarter.
Corraro (six points, three rebounds, three assists, three steals, five forced turnovers) was a defensive sparkplug in forcing Lady Blue Devil turnovers and had a coast-to-coast layup off a steal to keep it a 12-point game, 32 – 20 with 3:23 left.
“I just read the passes and hustled,” Corraro said.
While the Gaelettes struggled on offense all game, they were stellar on defense. Shelton forced 24 West Haven turnovers, 15 in the second half, with Spicer doing the most damage.
Spicer (one rebound, three steals), who signed a letter of intent to play college soccer at Long Island University in Brooklyn Wednesday morning forced seven turnovers and her relentless play sparked the Gaelettes.
“Defense is all about effort and working hard,” Spicer said.
Sophomore Bianka Bell (13 points, three rebounds, one assist, three steals, two forced turnovers) came alive in the second half. Bell drew the foul after a steal and hit both foul shots and with 6.8 seconds to go, she swished a trey off a feed from Corraro to cut the lead to nine after three quarters.
“Bianka gets open well and I passed the ball to her,” Corraro said.
Also giving the Gaelettes a defensive spark was sophomore lefty Brittany Lampert (two points, one steal, one tieup, one forced turnover). Lampert had a layup after stealing the ball from midcourt to make it a seven-point game, 34 – 27 with 5:01 left in the game.
Bell cut the lead to one, 34 – 33 with 1:28 remaining, after hitting two straight 3‑pointers, the first one from Corraro with 2:02 to go and the second one from Chuma.
“I knew I had to do it for the team and I was feeling it,” Bell said.
Spicer gave the Gaelettes a golden chance to win, first by forcing a backcourt violation, followed by a 10-seconds violation. Each time, the offense failed to convert. She then stole the ball and fired up a trey with 13.2 seconds left but missed.
Shelton was forced to foul to extend the game and it sent Lady Blue Devil senior tri-captain Nicole Pacapelli to the line. Pacapelli (five points) missed the front end of a one-of-one with 2.8 seconds to go but Farquharson grabbed the offensive rebound and ran out the clock.
Freshmen Alyssa Eannotti (one point, two rebounds, one assist, two forced turnovers) and Megan Burke (one forced turnover) along with senior tri-captain Kelsey Perusse (one steal) also contributed for the Gaelettes.
“It was a very nice comeback,” Maciulewski said. “Like I tell everyone, we don’t quit.”
“Our whole team worked together in the second half and showed the true character of our team.” Spicer said.
