Norwich — The CIAC basketball tournament begins at a time when teams are supposed to be peaking, yet the Norwich Free Academy girls find themselves back where it all started.

A season-ending injury to freshman post Makayla Poirier-Vaughters has forced the Wildcats to rely on seniors Hailey Conley and Mackenzie Burke to provide the bulk of the offense. The duo did just that as they combined for 49 points in Tuesday’s 60-51 Class LL first-round win over No. 25 Shelton at Alumni Hall.

“Catastrophe,” Burke said about Poirier-Vaughters injury.

"We’re definitely struggling," Conley added. "Struggling to get rebounds. Struggling on offense.”

Poirier-Vaughters suffered a head injury during a 53-39 loss to New London in the Eastern Connecticut Conference Division I final last Wednesday. Her emergence during the season gave eighth-seeded NFA the third scorer it desperately needed, as well as an interior game.

“And now we’re back to where we started,” Wildcats coach Bill Scarlata lamented. “We’ve got to make do.”

Conley scored 25 points with six steals.

“I’ll do my best (to score),” Conley said, “but it’s always nice to have a post in there. It’s rough.”

Burke had 24 points for the Wildcats (19-5).

“If I was the other team, I know what I’d do (to defend us),” Scarlata said.

NFA will host No. 9 Norwalk in Friday’s second round. The Bears beat No. 24 Simsbury 40-34.

“Norwalk is very athletic and tall,” Scarlata said. “They’re going to give us trouble. … Now that people know us, we’re that much easier to play. I’m hoping someone steps up. We’ll see.”

The Wildcats started strong Tuesday with a 9-0 run.

The Gaels then made a game of it thanks to the shooting of seniors Casey O’Connor (14 points) and Sarah Skoronski (13). Skoronski made three of her team’s eight 3-pointers.

NFA didn’t help itself by making mistakes that at one point made Scarlata bury his face in his shirt.

“There are a lot of things we did well, and a lot of things that we did that were like off-the-reservation,” Scarlata said. “I’m having a hard time getting them as disciplined as I want them to be. And now we're at this point of the year where we have to be more disciplined because everyone you face is really good, especially in LL. There’s not too many weak teams in LL.”

To that point, Shelton was one of the lowest seeds in the 36-team field, but finished the season 13-9.

The Gaels opened the second half with a 9-0 run to take a 32-30 lead. Their run concluded with O’Connor being fouled on a missed 3-pointer and making her first two free throws.

Maggie Howard’s 3-pointer gave Shelton a 35-33 lead with 4 minutes, 24 seconds left in the third quarter.

Burke rallied NFA by going on a 6-0 run. She scored all 11 of the Wildcats’ points in that quarter, and they never trailed again.

“It’s interesting — they did a box-and-1 on Hailey tonight, so it opened up a little more for me,” Burke said. “And we’re trying to get Maddie (Perrino), Kayla (Ericson), Jaida (Davis), Emily (Williams) and Sharon (Bell) involved, too.”

Perrino, a sophomore, scored four during a 12-5 run in the fourth quarter. It pushed NFA ahead, 56-47, with over four minutes left.

“We’re getting there,” Conley said about life without Poirier-Vaughters. “Friday, we’re going to come out really hard.”

n.griffen@theday.com