Sports
Shelton Girls Basketball Ousted From SCC Playoffs
Poor second quarter dooms Gaels in 65-38 loss to No. 1 seed Mercy
The Shelton girls basketball team appeared in its first Southern Connecticut Conference semifinal game since 1997, but the Gaels were virtual no-shows.
Sadie Edwards registered a game-high 19 points as top seed Mercy rolled to a 65-38 victory over Shelton on Monday night at Quinnipiac’s TD Bank Sports Center.
Mercy's win sets up a one vs. two battle in Tuesday's championship game. In Monday's other semifinal, No. 2 seed Hillhouse advanced to its 10th SCC final with a 51-50 victory over Career.
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“I think we got scared, maybe it was the big arena,” Gaels head coach Mary Piccirillo said. “I don’t know what it was, but we didn’t come out to play today.”
The second quarter turned into a nightmare for Shelton (17-6). After building a 16-9 edge after the first period, Mercy used an 18-0 run to open a commanding 38-14 lead at the half.
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Shelton was just 4-of-25 from the field in the first half and finished the game with 25 turnovers. The Tigers turned the ball over just nine times.
In the second quarter, the Gaels went nearly five minutes without scoring a point Mercy extended its lead to 34-9 with 3:35 left in the half.
“We had one turnover and gave the ball up,” Piccirillo said. “And then, it was just turnover after turnover after turnover, and we just couldn’t get back from that. It put us in that hole and we couldn’t dig out of it.”
Mercy opened its biggest lead at 52-20 with 1 1/2 minutes left in the third period. Brittany Lampert scored back-to-back baskets to trim the deficit to 52-24.
The Tigers again built a 32-point cushion late in the game before Lampert swooshed two consecutive field goals to account for the final score.
Alyssa Eanotti paced the Gaels with 11 points and Lampert added nine.
I think Alyssa Eanotti dug right out of that hole and she continued to fight for the rest of the game,” Piccirillo said. “The rest of the team just kind of got nervous.”
Shelton now looks forward to the CIAC Class LL state tournament, which begins next week.
“Many people didn’t think that we’d make it this far to the SCC tournament,” Piccirillo said. “We’re here and we showed up this year. I think next year, we are going to come out to play and give a little bit more of a battle.”
