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Shelton High scored 50 or more points for the second time in as many games, to top visiting Masuk of Monroe, 52-34, on Wednesday night.
It was the third time this season that coach Joe Cavallaro’s Gaelettes broke that barrier.
Shelton is now 4-2 and Masuk fell to 3-5.
Shelton led Masuk 11-10 after one quarter of play, 25-16 at halftime, and pulled away in the second half.
The Gaelettes held the Panthers to a single field goal in the third quarter and built a 38-22 cushion heading to the fourth. They increased their lead to as much as 26 in the final period.
Keira O’Connor took the inbound pass and scored seconds into the third period to set the tone for the rest of the half, as Shelton pushed the tempo and racked up points in transition.
Leya Vohra finished with 16 points and five steals.
Maggie Howard had 13 and Clarissa Pierre dropped in 11 to pace the offense.
O’Connor added six and Gigi Gamboian and Mackenzie Joyce both tacked on three.
“We ran the court great, especially Leya Vohra and Maggie Howard,” Cavallaro said. “We thought that was our advantage going in, that we could beat them up and down the court and we did.
“The rebounding led to it. We did a really good job kicking the ball out off the rebound. We had 45 rebounds, the most in the five years I’ve been here.”
Leading in that category were Pierre with 18 and Joyce with a dozen.
Masuk went 4:40 without bucket to begin the second half. By that time, the Panthers only mustered a couple of free throws and trailed by 14.
The defensive effort was led by Joyce and O’Connor. The locals contested shots and deflected or altered passes throughout the evening.
Howard had six points and Vohra contributed five points in Shelton’s put-away third period.
Howard took a long outlet pass from Vohra and converted an easy layup to cap the third-quarter scoring.
In the fourth, Shelton scored in a variety of ways.
A steal by Howard led to a Pierre bucket, off a good look from O’Connor. Pierre had put backs and Gamboian hit a 3-pointer which made the score 50-24.
Shelton had bounced back from a tough loss to East Hartford in its Holiday Tournament opener with a 54-28 win over Bunnell of Stratford on Saturday.
Shelton led Bunnell 23-16 at the half before, similarly to the Masuk contest, opening up a big lead after the break.
“We really got going in the second half against Bunnell,” said Cavallaro, whose team led 37-21 through three quarters of play and put up 19 in the fourth.
The high scorer in a balanced attack was Howard with 13. Pierre scored nine, O’Connor eight, and Vohra and Joyce dropped in seven apiece.
“Everybody on our roster scored in that game which is great for the kids,” Cavallaro said.
Alexandra Capalbo scored three, Sophia Alkaul, Devan Wildman and Gamboian all had two, and Mariah Mandulak added one point.
Pierre was a rebounding machine in each of the last two games, compiling 13 against Bunnell, 11 of which were in the second half.
Shelton will look to continue its momentum with back-to-back road tilts. It visits Hillhouse on Friday and Guilford on Monday, both at 7 p.m.
The Gaelettes return home Wednesday, Jan. 9 when Sheehan visits also at 7 o’clock.
Shelton
Mackenzie Joyce 1 1-2 3, Maggie Howard 6 0-1 13, Leya Vohra 6 4-8 16, Kiera O Connor 2 0-0 6, Clarissa Pierre 5 1-2 11, Gigi Gamboin 1 0-0 3
Totals: 22 6-13 52
Masuk
Gia DeLorenzo 0 2-2, Bella Migliaro 1 2-2 5, Sammi Schiebe 1 2-2 5, Bri Craig 7 2-4 16, Emily Rentz 2 0-0 4, Anni Gaber 0 2-2 2
Totals: 11 10-12 34
Masuk: 10- 6- 6-12 — 34
Shelton: 11-14-13-14 — 52