By Michael Letendre

BRISTOL – If the Bristol Eastern girls basketball team wants a top seed in the upcoming Central Connecticut Conference Tournament, then winning out its final three regular season games is something the Lancers must do.

Step one was a home encounter against Bristol Central on Thursday night from the Thomas M. Monahan Gymnasium in a Region B challenge.

And the Lancers dominated the Rams from start to finish, zipping up a 64-35 victory to move to 8-2 on the campaign.

Eastern’s defense did the trick as Central (1-9) shot just 6-of-32 from the field at the half, limited to just 12 points.

“The big thing right now is they’re more focused on defense and what we’re trying to do and take away some of the stuff that [Central] likes to do,” said Eastern coach Tony Floyd. “That’s what we tried to do in the first quarter. I thought we did a really good job on that.”

After notching just 15 points over the first three frames of play, Central exploded in the fourth period as the visiting contingent gots its offense churning to end the contest with zest.

“We finished strong in the last quarter,” said Central head coach Steve Gaudet.

Janessa Bartell showed grit on the hardwood, making strong moves to the hoop and finished the contest with 15 points.

She put up hoops throughout the showdown and didn’t quit until the final horn sounded.

“She’s been playing well all year,” said Gaudet of Bartell. “She had 21 [points] the other night. She’s offensively been one of our leaders.”

Damani Hough, Alyah Rodrigues, Ella Watson and Sophia Torreso all scored four points for the Rams.

Once again, Ciara Collins was outstanding for Eastern, dropping in 23 points – all over a quick 18-minute stretch – to go along with 12 rebounds and four assists while hitting 10-of-15 field goals from the field.

And while no other player scored more than eight points, there was balance up and down the line-up.

Sage Scarritt bounced back from a tough offensive outing against Southington with eight points, 13 rebounds and a few blocked shots against the Rams.

She tallied nine offensive rebounds and was in attack mode all evening long.

Janessa Gonzalez flipped in six points and seven rebounds while Taigan Parent hit a 3 on her way to five points.

Cali Doyon captured four points, five rebounds and four assists on senior night while Alyssa Kehler contributed four points and a couple rebounds.

Emma Stavens added four points, Audrey Tice collected two points and three assists while the dynamic duo of Sarah Lacouture and Vanessa Drury each had two baskets for four points.

Gracie Lamar, Lauren Ayotte, and Madison Charette all saw action for the Lancers.

Central did a good job early, hanging around with Eastern, and after two hoops from Collins, Gwen Torreso found Ella Watson for a short hoop as the deficit was chopped to 8-4 with 3:50 left to play in the first frame.

But the Kingstreeters then went on a blazing 18-2 run, turning defense into offense, and when Collins drained a 3, Parent hit jumper, Kehler canned two charity tosses, and off a sweet Parent three-point bomb, the Lancers edge grew to 26-6 with 7:00 to play in the second stanza.

“We also got in transition,” said Floyd. “We hit the boards pretty good. I thought Sage did a really good job [as well as] Alyssa inside and Janessa on the boards. We haven’t been doing that and we’re doing a better job of that. That’s something we’re trying to do better so we can be able to get into transition, filling lanes and getting to the basket.”

Collins and Gonzalez then combined to score the next fourteen Eastern points and when Stavens ended the first half with a slick jumper, the home team went into the locker room with a 42-12 cushion in hand.

Over the first two minutes of the third tilt, Bartell dropped in a baseline jumper and also hit a free throw but after those three points, the visitors did not score again in the quarter.

Eastern ended the scoring in the third with a Gonzalez hoop, two in a row from Doyon and when Collins fished in a lay-up and turned a Scarritt feed into two points, the Lancers built up a 54-15 lead with one quarter to go.

Bartell opened up the fourth frame with a basket and Rodrigues coolly sank back-to-back jumpers as the squad looked to finish the game with a little flurry.

“They were very aggressive in the fourth quarter,” said Gaudet of his squad. “They hit some shots and did some good things.”

Drury later scored back-to-back hoops, Lacouture flashed in two baskets as well, and Tice ended the scoring with one final lay-up as Eastern was a 64-35 victor over Central.

Eastern has an outside chance at earning a high CCC Tournament seed and winning against Lewis Mills and New Britain – both on the road next week – will help with that endeavor.

The Lancers need a little outside help to get into that top CCC mix but Eastern’s victory over Central keeps the team going in the right direction.

“I thought we did a really good job distributing the ball, executing a little bit and got some nice shots,” said Floyd.

CCC Region B girls basketball

BRISTOL EASTERN 64, BRISTOL CENTRAL 35

from the Thomas M. Monahan Gymnasium

Bristol Central (1-9) 6 6 3 20 – 35

Bristol Eastern (8-2) 21 21 12 10 – 64

BRISTOL CENTRAL (35): Damani Hough 2 2 6, Brooke Watson 1 0 2, Arianna Rivera 1 0 2, Janessa Bartell 7 1 15, Ella Watson 2 0 4, Sophia Torreso 1 0 2, Gwen Torreso 0 0 0. Totals: 16 3 35.

BRISTOL EASTERN (64): Taigan Parent 2 0 5, Ciara Collins 10 0 23, Cali Doyon 2 0 4, Alyssa Kehler 1 2 4, Sage Scarritt 3 2 8, Audrey Tice 1 0 2, Emma Stavens 1 2 4, Vanessa Drury 2 0 4, Sarah Lacouture 2 0 4, Gracie Lamar 0 0 0. Totals: 27 6 64.

Three-point goals: Collins (BE) 3, Parent (BE).

Records: Bristol Eastern 8-2 overall; Bristol Central 1-9