By Michael Letendre
BRISTOL – When Bristol Central girls basketball standout Lillian Sirois transferred across town from St. Paul, she joined a squad that was in the midst of a long losing streak against Bristol Eastern.
And she entered this season as the Lancers were on a 34-game winning streak over the Rams.
It wasn’t a streak started by any of the current players on either roster but Sirois and her teammates were the group to end all that bad luck against the Kingstreeters.
And behind an incredible 55-42 victory over Eastern, Sirois and company broke the hex last Saturday in an amazing effort.
“It feels beyond great because I just transferred here [from St. Paul] this year,” said Lillian Sirois. “So I wasn’t sure if I was going to play basketball. And then I decided to play and we came out here and I said, ‘guys, no one wants to lose a game. No one wants this.’ I [told them] work hard, we’ve got this.”
“It just feels great.”
She dropped in a career-high 25 points as she notched at least four points in every quarter against the Lancers.
Over an amazing display, Sirois and Ariana Rivera – who scored 17 points – never let the Lancers into the game after the Rams grabbed the edge late in the first period.
“I just wanted to win,” said Sirois. “I was just tired of hearing about since [2004], Eastern’s better.”
Sirois is legit as she attacks the hoop with zest, can hit the long bomb from time to time, and is one of the squad’s impressive leaders.
Sirois started the campaign averaging 17.4 points-per-game over her first five games and has never relented.
Crosstown games never go as expected and it was just a matter of time before the Rams to finally tallied a win over the Lancers.
It’s never an easy situation when dealing with a long losing streak, just ask the Bristol Central volleyball squad in its battles against Bristol Eastern since 1994.
But there was something different about this Central girls basketball squad.
The program is an athletic bunch, can finish at the hoop, and were all on the same page against the Lancers – beating the press, hitting its layups, and shot over 50-percent from the field.
“We all wanted to win,” said Sirois. “We all just worked together, communicated and knew we had to work as a team. It’s just my senior year so I had to finish it out with a bang.”
And now Central is surging after a tough 0-7 start and getting a victory over Eastern proves that anything is possible.
The Rams are averaging over 50 points-per-game over their last five contests – leading to five straight victories with several more to go.
“I think we’ve had our losses for the rest of the season,” said Sirois. “From here on out, it’s just up. There’s no more down.”
RIM DUST…It was erroneously reported that Central broke a 32-game losing streak against Eastern with that 13-point win. The last victory for the Rams against the Lancers came back on February 16, 2004 in a 60-57 victory. From there, it’s been 17 years in-between wins. At two games a season over 17 years, it led to 34 straight wins for BE. That wrong tally caught wildfire in other publications as well. Does anyone do their homework these days?!?
