By Michael Letendre
BRISTOL – The Bristol Central girls basketball has been sizzling this season, securing a .500 ledger after brutal start that saw the Rams winless deep into the month of January.
But this squad isn’t like the Central programs of the past.
And this time around, the Rams had an 0-7 start but put together six straight wins – eventually going a sterling 10-3 over their final 13 games – to finish the campaign at 10-10.
That regular season ending will allow Central to host a state tournament game for the first time in recent memory.
Credit the squad for believing in coach Steve Gaudet’s program, in each other, and the results speak for themselves.
Leading the team in scoring this year was St. Paul transfer Lillian Sirois.
She’s been simply tremendous, playing in all twenty games and averaging 14.7 points-per-game – just scoring under 300 points for the season.
Sirois dropped in a career-high 30 points against Hartford Public to end the regular season and that victory over the Owls was an important one in terms of playoff seeding.
She’s an obvious CCC South All-Conference pick and so is teammate
Brooke Watson.
The second leading scorer on the squad dumped a season best 20 points against Eastern in that 12-point setback.
The sophomore was sensational over the second half of play for the Central program, draining four 3s while scoring 14 fourth quarter points to make a real game of it late.
“Lilly’s been great all year,” said Central coach Steve Gaudet. “Brooke started a little tentative early on, but she’s been awesome. Brooke has really stepped up her game during the winning streak we had going. She’s just ultra-competitive. She just fights and fights and fights.”
“I’m proud of her.”
At 9.8 points-per-game, she was another Central player that deserves All-Conference accolades.
Watson just came short of a 200-point campaign and drained 15 of the squad’s 34 three-pointers this season.
Ariana Rivera is one of the unsung players of the program as well, kicking in 15 points in that near miss against Eastern which was a couple points off her season high of 17.
Freshmen Callie Lodovico (5.0 ppg) did a tremendous job on the court as did senior Ella Watson (3.0 ppg).
Those players fit their roles to perfection as the Rams hit all the big shots over the final 13 games of the campaign.
Sophomore Madison Pikiell and junior Kaley Laird all made contributions along the way of a huge bounce-back season.
“These girls, they’re awesome,” said Gaudet of his squad. “They were so much fun to coach this season.”
From the 0-7 beginning to the .500 finish, Central ended the regular season at 10-10 – earning a home seed in the Class L state tournament fray against Platt.
For a squad to flip that script, it was an amazing turnaround since the two setbacks in Meriden in early January.
“I’m not content [but] I’m happy,” said Gaudet of the turnaround. “And I think we can get a couple games in the state tournament too.”
CCC South Rematch to start the Class L’s for Central
While the Class L tournament field isn’t set in stone, it’s more than obvious who the Rams will be facing in the opening round.
And for the third time this year, No. 16 Central will be tangling against No. 17 Platt of Meriden.
Both programs ended the season at 10-10 but in terms of power points, that’s where Central was able to earn its game from the Charles C. Marsh Gymnasium in Bristol.
Central collected 59 power points while Platt was one behind at 58 helping the Rams earn a home date.
The team’s split the season series 1-1 as a late-game collapse saw Platt win in Bristol on January 11 (47-35) while in the rematch in Meriden on February 1, Central defeated Platt – earning a 44-34 victory which was the Rams’ sixth straight triumph.
The winner of that tournament game will likely have to square off against top-ranked Newington (19-1 regular season) and it’s a second round date Central expects to be playing in.
“This is not the same Bristol Central team anymore,” said Gaudet. “We’re not just happy competing and losing by ten points. We can beat some teams. We’ve beaten some teams and we’re going to continue to do that.”
RIM DUST…The last official Class L state tournament victory for the Central program came back on February 25, 2013 in Avon as the Rams spun the Falcons, 52-26. Back in March of 2015, Central – in the Class LL bracket – fell at Stamford, 78-20 (the score was run-up on purpose in an embarrassing move by the Stamford coach to get a player her 1,000th point in a game that was over early) and in 2020, Central fell at Sacred Heart Academy (53-24) which was the last tournament game that Central played in at the state tournament level.
