By Michael Letendre

BRISTOL – Down twenty points to Central Connecticut Conference Interdivisional foe Edwin O. Smith, the Bristol Eastern girls basketball team chopped the deficit to single digits before falling by a 51-40 final from the Thomas M. Monahan Gymnasium in Bristol on Tuesday.

It was the opening contest for both squads.

The Lancers were leading by five early in the second stanza before the Panthers unleashed a 29-4 run to capture a 40-20 edge with 4:06 to go in the third tilt.

But Eastern went for broke as back-to-back lay-ups from Ciara Collins and Taigan Parent – part of a 20-8 Lancers’ burst – made it a 48-40 game with 39 seconds to play.

Eastern simply ran out of time in the end, eventually dropping the contest by 11.

“I’m pleased about the way they played and came back and didn’t pack it in,” said Eastern coach Tony Floyd. “They fought all to the way at the end down here.”

Collins dropped in a game-high 22 points and collected 10 rebounds for a season opening double-double.

Parent scored seven of her career-high nine points over second half play while also swiping four steals that evening.

Emma Stavens also snagged four steals to go along with seven points and two rebounds while Janessa Gonzalez added two points and seven rebounds for the Lancers.

Smith loomed big over Eastern’s scrappy squad as the visitors cashed in on 14 offensive rebounds.

Lilli Clark dropped in 21 points, Maddie Hughes added seven while back-up center Bella Mallory – also hitting the glass with zest – had six points and several rebounds off the pine as the bigger Panthers enjoyed their height advantage on the court.

Smith also had steady play out of point guard Oliva Verboven (six points) while Clair Greene canned two three-pointers, leading to eight points, for the visiting aggression.

“They’re really a good team,” said Floyd of Smith. “They’re probably in the top five or top six [of the state]. They have some very good inside players. I thought they did a very good job. They’re huge.”

But Eastern went toe-to-toe against Smith in the first frame as Collins cashed in on three three-pointers with her final trifecta giving the Kingstreeters a 13-11 edge through eight minutes of action.

“They came out and played very well,” said Floyd of Eastern. “[Smith] tried to [match our] play but we executed well.”

With 6:04 to go in the second tilt, Collins found Stavens for a huge three-point bomb as Eastern roped up a 16-11 lead as the offense was flowing.

From there, Eastern had trouble advancing the ball up the court as Smith went to full-court pressing tactics.

The Panthers forced several consecutive miscues – leading to a period ending 18-3 jaunt – as the home team trailed 29-18 at intermission as Smith created offense via the turnovers.

“We just fell into a little lull where we just turned the ball over four times in a row,” said Floyd of the pivotal second period. “We didn’t make a basket and they went up about ten points. That got their momentum going [into the half].”

The Lancers were cold shooting from the field in the third tilt as Smith maintained its defensive stance, with Eastern connecting on just one basket in the quarter.

And when Hughes hit a charity shot with 4:06 left in the frame, Eastern trailed by twenty at 40-20.

“In the third quarter, they really came at us again” with pressure said Floyd of Smith. “We didn’t attack the press until later on.”

But the home team eventually went 10-for-10 from the free throw line – sandwiched around a Collins hoop which was set up nicely by Parent – and with 6:36 to go in the bout, Eastern was hanging around at 42-30.

“In the fourth quarter, we started doing a great job breaking the press, attacking, making some lay-ups and kids were filling the lanes,” said Floyd.

Smith then started to stall, Eastern continued to hit a foul shot here and there but even as Parent drained a late three and Collins canned a free throw, it was still a double-figure game at 48-36 with 1:54 left.

But Eastern went for broke as Collins dropped in a hoop and off a quick turnover, Parent connected on a lay-up and with about forty seconds to go, the Lancers trimmed the deficit to 48-40.

On the ensuing play, Hughes found Clark for a quick lay-up and Eastern never got it back to single digits again as the Panthers came away with a big 51-40 season opening win from Bristol.

“We were right there” in the end said Floyd. “We [just] didn’t play a whole good game. We played two-and-a-half [to three] good quarters. That [second] quarter hurt us.”

CCC Interdivisional girls basketball

EDWIN O. SMITH 51, BRISTOL EATSERN 40

from the Thomas M. Monahan Gymnasium

Edwin O. Smith         11 18 13 9 – 51

Bristol Eastern          13 5 10 12 – 40

EDWIN O. SMITH (51): Lilli Clark 8 5 21, Maddie Hughes 1 5 7, Bella Mallory 3 0 6, Oliva Verboven 1 4 6, Clair Greene 2 2 8, Kate McAvoy 1 0 3. Totals: 16 16 51.

BRISTOL EASTERN (40): Emily Piendak 0 0 0, Emma Stavens 2 2 7, Janessa Gonzalez 0 2 2, Ciara Collins 5 9 22, Taigan Parent 3 2 9, Amanda Noel 0 0 0, Leah Roy 0 0 0. Totals: 10 15 40.

Three-point goals: Clair Green (EO) 2, Kate McAvoy (EO), Emma Stavens (BE), Ciara Collins (BE) 3, Taigan Parent (BE).

Records: Edwin O. Smith 1-0 overall; Bristol Eastern 0-1

Rim Dust: Bristol Eastern’s Lauren Ayotte hits game-winning free throw as Lancers’ JV squad defeats E.O. Smith.

The Bristol Eastern girls JV basketball team trailed late in its contest against Edwin O. Smith on Tuesday before a little clutch foul shooting by Amanda Noel and Lauren Ayotte eventually helped the Lancers steal the game away from the Panthers.

And it took some doing because Smith held all the momentum over the final period of play but could not close out the contest.

Eastern trailed 25-19 to open the fourth period but the Kingstreeters allowed Smith just five points over the final eight minutes of regulation as defense ruled the frame.

The Panthers led 30-28 with less than a minute to play when Eastern attacked the hoop as Noel was fouled with 30.1 seconds remaining.

She coolly sank two charity tosses to make it a 30-30 game as the visiting aggression quickly called for time.

The Panthers then used some clock to set up their offense but missed a high-percentage shot and with 10.7 second left, Eastern was charging down the court – looking for a game-winning hoop.

A late three-pointer missed and after a scrum, Ayotte ended up with the offensive rebound and flung the ball at the hoop as the buzzer sounded.

The attempt missed but a foul was called on the play – sending Ayotte to the line for two shots, needing just one to win the contest.

All alone at the free throw stripe due to the clock showing all zeros across the board, Ayotte calmly dropped in the first free throw toss as Eastern seized a sweet 31-30 come-from-behind victory to open the season.

It was the first win for Eastern JV coach Beth Lafferty.

Eastern’s Leah Roy was the only double-figure scorer of the game as she dropped in 13 points while Noel added four of her six points over fourth period play.

Vanessa Drury and Madison Charette each scored four points to the till while Ayotte notched three.

Collins passes Chapman in all-time scoring

When senior sensation Ciara Collins hit two free throws with 5:01 to play in the second period, she passed Tami Chapman for sixth place all-time in points scored at Bristol Eastern.

Chapman tallied 1,045 points over her career and Collins needed just 13 points to move up the Eastern scoring ladder.

Collins notched 22 points and now has 1,055 career points – looking to pass one of her favorite coaches, Ginny Torreso (Ziogas), over the next few games.

Torreso scored 1,134 points for the Lancers and Collins needs just 79 to tie her for fifth place all-time.

Learning their roles

It’s going to take a little time for Eastern’s players to develop some court chemistry this season.

But once that chemistry takes a hold of the Lancers’ program, the locals are going to be in particularly decent shape.

Last season, the duo of Taigan Parent and Emma Stavens made a total of eight starts over the pandemic shortened campaign – seeing considerable time off the bench.

However, both athletes are in the starting line-up this season, a position they both will be in for the remainder of the campaign.

Against Edwin O. Smith in Eastern’s 51-40 season-opening loss, the duo showed flashes on both offense and defense abilities that will help the squad win games down the road.

“Taigan and Emma were really coming off the bench last year,” said Eastern coach Tony Floyd. “Some games they started for half the year. But I thought they did a good job for the first time [starting] and coming out here and taking on their new roles.”

Same goes for senior Janessa Gonzalez who truly is the squad’s only inside enforcer after Collins.

Gonzalez will push players around, grab several big rebounds, stick a jumper here and there and block shots in and around the paint.

She’s another important cog to any chance Eastern has of doing well this season.

“Janessa has really stepped it up this year on the boards,” said Floyd. “She’s physical. She’s done a great job playing good defense out there.”

Emily Piendak (two rebounds) also got her first varsity start on Tuesday and played a ton of minutes against the Panthers.

As she gets a little more confidence on the court, Piendak will fill an invaluable role at the forward position for the Lancers.

“Emily Piendak came out and did a great job,” against Smith said Floyd. “I was pleased. That’s her first year playing out there as a junior and I was able to get a couple young kids in there [as well].”

Noel and Leah Roy earned a few minutes throughout the contest, making contributions here and there to keep the Lancers hanging around.

It’s vital that Eastern gets something from the bench this season to augment the play of the Lancers’ All-State performer in Collins and that starting unit.

“I thought Leah Roy and Amanda Noel did a good job coming off the bench,” said Floyd.

Floyd hopes to develop Noel, Roy and Vanessa Drury as the season unfolds.

But there won’t be any letup come Friday as Eastern travels to Windsor for a tough CCC Interdivisional showdown on the road.