By Michael Letendre 

BRISTOL – National Signing Day for future collegiate athletes took place this past Wednesday and a certain basketball standout from Bristol Eastern finally put her name on the dotted line.

And the outstanding Ciara Collins will be taking her talents to Pace University – a NCAA Division II program – come the 2022-23 collegiate campaign.

Pace is located in New York City, a member of the outstanding of the Northeast-10 Conference and the ECAC (Eastern College Athletic Conference).

Collins had other suiters that inquired about her services on the court but her decision on Wednesday – shared with family, friends, teachers, and administrators at the Thomas M. Monahan Gymnasium on the campus of Bristol Eastern – made it official as she signed her letter of intent.

The Setters are not just getting a tremendous basketball player but an even better person who will elevate the Pace campus in whatever she decides to do.

“It’s definitely relieving for sure,” said Collins about her decision. “It takes a lot of stress off so I’m just really excited to continue playing. That was really the main goal. I just wanted to keep playing and being able to play at that level is super exciting.” 

The Northeast-10 Conference is a legitimate athletic grouping of institutions with member programs throughout New England and New York.

And in 2022-23, she’ll be competing against teams in Connecticut including Southern Connecticut State University, the University of New Haven and Post University in Waterbury.

Throw in programs such as Le Moyne, Saint Rose, and Adelphi (New York), American International, Assumption, Stonehill and Bentley (Massachusetts), and Franklin Pierce, Saint Anselm and Southern New Hampshire University (New Hampshire) and Collins knows she’s in for some serious competition that’s not too far from her doorstep in Bristol.

“Having that competitive environment is definitely really exciting,” said Collins.

At Bristol Eastern, Collins is suiting up for her senior campaign with a list of accomplishments and achievements that stacks up against the best scholastic players in the state.

Collins is one of only 15 girls in Bristol to score 1,000 points scholastically.

She is currently the seventh all-time leading scorer in program history and needs just 13 points to pass Tami Chapman (1,045 points from 1972-1976) on the all-time list.

In 62 career games at Eastern, Collins averages 16.7 points, 6.0 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 2.1 steals-per-game over 60 starts.

She’s drained 87 three-pointers over her three seasons, averages a blocked shot a game, and is a career 84-percent free throw shooter.

Those statistics illustrate what an amazing basketball player Collins is and how she’d be a tremendous asset to any collegiate program.

And from an early age, the sport she wanted to pursue was basketball despite success in both soccer, lacrosse and everything else Collins has played.

“I was 100-percent basketball from when I was little,” said Collins. “I always hoped I was going to play [basketball] in college.”

Last season alone, Collins pumped in 23.2 points, 8.6 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 2.1 steals-per-contest as a junior.

She played – and started – all 14 games she suited up in and led her team in scoring over every outing.

Collins is as constant as the Northern Star and once she sets her feet to shoot, opponents know that field goal attempt has a great chance of falling through the hoop.

She’s well-liked by her teammates, a tremendous interview and while she isn’t fancy or flashy, Collins simply gets to the pay window – time after time again – in leading her squad to victory.

Collins is following two successful Bristol Eastern players who were collegiate standouts at Pace – Ginny Ziogas Torreso and Taylor Losey.

Torreso was outstanding for the Setters, scoring 1,540 points for the program as her team won 97 games and made the NCAA Division II Tournament twice.

She is ninth in assists and eighth in games played at Pace.

Losey, also a tremendous standout for the Lancers, finished her time at Pace with 1,239 points, tying for ninth place in school history. 

She also ranks third in all-time three-pointers made with 172. 

And what’s the connection between all three players?

All those outstanding athletes notched 1,000 points for the Bristol Eastern girls basketball program, coached by Tony Floyd. 

But the Pace connection was made by Torreso – a former coach and mentor of Collins – and the Eastern senior will be playing for Carrie Seymour, the same coach that Torreso and Losey competed under. 

“Coach Ginny played at Pace and she played for the same coach,” said Collins. “And [Torreso] talked to her and she kind of helped me get there. I went and visited [Pace] and I loved the coach. She coaches just like coach Ginny and that’s always the coach I’ve looked up to.”

“I definitely want to play for someone like that.”

And once Collins made a visit to Pace, which was her first visit, she fell in love with the college, the campus and the program.

“It was my top choice,” said Collins of Pace.

The future biology major is going be a major asset to the school – both on the hardwood and in the classroom.

Any program with Collins at the helm is going to be successful from the start and after one final scholastic campaign for the Lancers, it’s going to be fun to see all the places collegiate hoop will take her.

In the meantime, Collins has the chance to become Eastern’s all-time leading scorer after a strong senior season.

And if you know what the outstanding Collins is capable of, anything is possible.