By Michael Letendre

BRISTOL – Who would have thought, after the Bristol Eastern girls basketball team’s hot start against CCC interdivisional challenger Northwest Catholic on Friday night, that the contest would have gone down to the wire?

The Kingstreeters led it 21-2 off a boatload of three-point bombs and tremendous defense but the Lions never gave up.

And to end it, Northwest had a chance to win the showdown at the buzzer.

But that one final three-point attempt rimmed out as the Lancers scooped up its second straight triumph, earning a 41-39 win over the Lions from the Thomas M. Monahan Gymnasium in Bristol.

Eastern (4-4) got back to .500 on the campaign while Northwest fell to 4-3.

Northwest’s forward duo of Maeve Rushin – the daughter of former UConn star Rebecca Lobo, who was in attendance that evening – notched 10 points while freshman Abby Casper scored 27 of her game-high 29 points over the final twenty-two minutes of action.

However, no other player was able to score for Northwest.

Eastern’s defense was churning early as the Lions missed 14 of its first 15 field goal attempts and quickly, Eastern held a 19 point cushion off a made 3 by Vanessa Drury (16 points, six rebounds, seven steals) with 6:36 to go in the second period.

“I’m pleased about the way we played,” said Floyd. “In the first half, we just played very well. They did a great job defensively, they executed offensively, we took away stuff from them and made them frustrated. We didn’t give them the shots that they wanted and got in their sweet spots.”

Taigan Parent was hot from deep, draining 4-of-7 threes, while tallying 14 points, four rebounds and four assists over another complete game effort.

“I thought we played really good in the beginning,” said Parent. “And in the end, we kind of let up a little bit. But just the aggressiveness we brought kept us in the game.”

But it was the play from Eastern reserve forward Amanda Noel (three points, three rebounds, two steals) who truly kept the Lions from snaring a late-game lead.

Both her steals came over fourth period play and Noel frustrated Northwest’s bigs until the final horn sounded.

“Coming off the bench, I thought Amanda Noel did a great job defensively on” Northwest’s two scorers said Floyd. “Her coming into the game and doing a good job there, I was pleased.”

Leah Roy (two rebounds), Lauren Ayotte (three rebounds, two assists), Tavia Swain and Jayle Evins-Mosley all made contributions to the winning effort.

Freshman Autumn Udoh (seven points, five rebounds) was forced into the starting line-up and responded well off layups that were set plays via Eastern timeouts.

She had a critical fourth period block and did enough to frustrate Northwest in the middle.

“Udoh, she was sick. She played a great game,” said Floyd. “And she did a great job while being sick. I give her a lot of credit. She hung in there. She showed me something today.”

Off a 2-2 stalemate, Eastern went on an eye-popping 19-0 burst as four of the Lancers’ final four hoops were three-point bombs.

Parent and Drury each canned two 3s apiece as Eastern led 21-2 midway through the second.

The Lions eventually chopped the deficit to single-digits but Parent canned a late three to make it 24-12 with 1:11 left before the half.

But one final spin move and bucket by Casper kept Northwest hanging around – down just 24-15 at the half.

“In the second quarter, we went into a little lull,” said Floyd. “[Northwest] came back a little bit. They had some success. Casper did a really great job. They went to her. We had no answer for her.”

It looked like Eastern steadied the ship in the third period as consecutive threes by Parent and Drury – the final 3s for Eastern that night – propelled the home squad to a 33-19 edge with 5:30 remaining in the tilt.

From there, Eastern didn’t score for nearly 7:30 and when Udoh flipped in a free throw with 6:01 left in the fourth, the Lancers’ lead was chopped all the way down to 34-31 via Northwest’s 12-1 run.

“We tried to take some air out of the ball,” said Floyd. “Maybe it was a little too early but we were doing so well and we just struggled a little bit. The kids hung in there.”

From there, Noel had some of her finest moments in an Eastern uniform.

She made a steal, eventually hitting 1-of-2 free throws and off a Lions’ turnover, Parent then found Noel for a jumper and with 2:50 left, Eastern had some breathing room, up 37-33 on the scoreboard.

“Even though Northwest made some big shots, we came back and made some big shots on our end,” said Floyd. “At the end, we were able to get that four-point lead but we almost gave it back to them. And then we came back and hit some big foul shots.”

Casper (three-point play) and Udoh exchanged hoops moments later but when Rushin hit a jumper – plus a foul with 1:06 left in regulation – it was all tied up at 39-39.

Parent then canned the game winning free throws via a 1-1 situation with 1:03 left as Eastern led it 41-39.

Turnovers and misses plagued the Lions late but off a critical jump ball – Northwest was still down two with 37.1 seconds left but regained possession of the ball.

The Lions used some clock, called time with 15.1 seconds left, but Noel then made a critical steal which led to Eastern playing keep-away.

The Lancers went to inbound the ball with just over four seconds to play but turned the ball right over.

And with 3.3 second left, Northwest had one last chance at it.

A scrum gave the Lions 2.2 seconds to work with and on the inbound to Northwest’s Lily Pare, who did not score in the game, attempted the game-winning shot.

She received the ball at the top of the key and unleashed a 3 at the buzzer that refused to fall in – propelling the Lancers to a huge 41-39 victory.

“It’s good for the team,” said Parent of the win. “It gives us a confidence booster. It’s a big thing.”

Bristol Eastern Girls Basketball – CCC Interdivisional Showdown 

BRISTOL EASTERN 41, NORTHWEST CATHOLIC 39 

from the Thomas M .Monahan Gymnasium, Bristol 

Northwest Catholic (4-3)  2 13 12 12 – 39 

Bristol Eastern (4-4)             12 12 9 8 – 41 

NORTHWEST CATHOLIC (39): Maeve Rushin 4 2 10, Abby Casper 13 1 29. Totals: 17 3 39. Lily Pare, Olivia Knorr, Zoey Canning, Susanna Schaub and Brooke Popella all played for the Lions but did not score in one of the most bizarre box scores ever. 

BRISTOL EASTERN (41): Taigan Parent 4 2 14, Vanessa Drury 6 1 16, Tavia Swain 0 0 0, Leah Roy 0 0 0, Amanda Noel 1 1 3, Jayle Evins-Mosley 0 0 0, Autumn Udoh 2 3 7, Lauren Ayotte 0 1 1. Totals: 13 8 41. 

Three-Point goals: Casper (NWC) 2, Parent (BE) 4, Drury (BE) 3. 

Records: Bristol Eastern 4-4 overall; Northwest Catholic 4-3.