SCRANTON — Avery McNulty led her team in scoring and also managed to do something that can be difficult in an all-star game setting — make an impact defensively.
McNulty, a Scranton Prep player from Pittston, had 17 points Monday night for the Red, which lost to the Blue, 82-65, in the girls game to open the Lackawanna League Senior All-Star doubleheader at Scranton High School.
The Blue was made up of players from Divisions 3 and 4 while McNulty was part of the Red team of players from Divisions 1 and 2.
McNulty’s three blocked shots led her team and matched the high for the game with Katie Slaboda from Riverside. Her two steals tied two teammates and Dunmore’s Moriah Murray for the most in the game and both produced breakaway layups by McNulty. Only one player from each team managed more than the five defensive rebounds McNulty pulled down.
“My main thing is probably defense,” McNulty said. “I feel like I’ve worked on that a lot, so it was good to show that off today.”
McNulty was 3-for-7 from 3-point range, stepping back a little further than in most regular-season games.
“I saw I was open,” she said. “I was a little deep, but I took them anyway.”
McNulty also made all three of her shots from inside the arc as well as both her free throw attempts. She had six rebounds total.
“I just wanted to try to have some fun,” McNulty said, “shoot the ball a little bit, try to create some opportunities and see what I could do.”
Kylie Lavelle, a Drexel University commit from Riverside, was the game’s Most Valuable Player with 35 points and 15 rebounds. She went 15-for-22 from the floor.
Ayden Davitt from Old Forge was selected for, but did not participate in, the boys game.
Scranton’s Jason Shields was named MVP of the boys game, leading the Red, made up of Division 1 and 3 players, to a 122-116 victory over the Blue. Shields had a game-high 24 points, six rebounds and three steals.
