By Michael Letendre 

BRISTOL – It’s been quite some time since Bristol enjoyed a little parity between the Central and Eastern girls basketball programs. 

On Monday night, the teams duked it out over an entertaining thirty-minutes of hardwood warfare as the Rams were able to eke out a tremendous win over the Lancers. 

Injured guard Brooke Watson made four late free throws while Central’s defense was able to generate critical stops down the stretch as the Rams scooped up a huge 42-38 victory from the Thomas M. Monahan Gymnasium. 

Central, now at a sterling 9-3, were down two starters due to injury and had to rely heavily on its starting core. 

And that meant huge production from two freshmen studs, guard Molly McMahon and forward/center Nicole Riemer, who both played like grizzled veterans – combining for 16 huge points. 

“We were down two of our biggest players [and] Brooke fighting through injuries right now so the two freshman had to step up,” said Central guard Kaley Laird of McMahon and Riemer. “And we did what we had to do. We got it done.” 

McMahon (eight points) dropped in two first-half 3s to give Central a boost while Riemer (eight) battled late foul trouble but remained in the contest until the end, grabbing several critical rebounds along the way. 

“We talked all year about being a family, next person up, and it’s not about one individual. It’s about the team,” said Central coach Steve Gaudet. “This is probably my proudest moment as a coach [in] baseball [or] basketball. It doesn’t matter. The situation we were put in and against a great coach and a great team, this environment, I couldn’t be prouder [of these girls].”  

Eastern (5-6) couldn’t get over the hump, shooting just over 26-percent from the field, but the team was a mere bucket away from capturing a late lead. 

“We missed a lot of lay ups, and we didn’t execute in the end,” said Eastern coach Tony Floyd. “We made some bad decisions at the end of the game.” 

Eastern’s Taigan Parent was tremendous in defeat, scooping in 18 points – going a slick 7-for-7 from the charity stripe – to go along with four rebounds. 

Her late game three-point attempt, which would have given Eastern a one-point lead, just rimmed in and out as Central was able to fend off the Kingstreeters in the end. 

“She was the one keeping us in the game,” said Floyd of Parent. “Taigan did a good job. She’s a senior and is used to this type of thing where I think a lot of the young kids had a hard time understanding in that kind of arena.” 

“And I thought Autumn Udoh did a good job inside and made a couple big shots for us in the end.” 

Udoh zipped up 15 points, five rebounds and a couple blocks – combining to score 33 points along with Parent. 

Nine lead changes and seven ties underscored the closeness of the showdown as neither program led by more than four points throughout. 

Over the final ninety seconds of the first quarter, Parent canned two free throws and Udoh added a lay-up but off a putback by Riemer, Central trailed just 8-7. 

A Larid foul shot gave Central a three-point lead with 4:29 left in the second stanza but a 7-2 burst by the Lancers, ignited by a 3 from Parent, gave Eastern a 17-15 edge moments later. 

Central’s Leilani Jackson (17 points) – who was a difference maker on both sides of the ball –followed up with a jumper, plus a foul, and McMahon buried another three before a slick turnaround by Parent at the buzzer saw Central etch up a 21-19 lead at the break. 

Neither team could stretch out any type of cushion in the third tilt, but Riemer canned two early field goals to keep things close. 

“We hit some big shots and we played defense,” said Gaudet. “Nicole Riemer inside against Udoh and everyone collectively – Julia Pikiell, Laird on Taigan. They’re great players. Our kids just worked and fought and played for one another.” 

Laird zipped in a lay-up late in the third as Central nabbed a three-point lead before a Vanessa Drury steal led to an Eastern fastbreak. 

While she missed the shot, Parent cleaned up the miss, got fouled, and after her successful foul shot, it was a brand new game at 29-29 with eight minutes to play.  

Udoh hit a baseline jumper to give Eastern a lead quickly into the fourth, but Jackson notched five points over a matter of twenty seconds and with 4:22 remaining in regulation, the Rams were back in charge at 34-31. 

But Eastern attacked as Parent lofted in a floater and off a steal, Udoh dropped in two free throws to help the home squad regain the lead, this time at 35-34 with 3:13 left. 

Central then took the edge for good off an Eastern turnover as McMahon hit the go-ahead shot, a little lay-in with 2:37 remaining, and when Watson found Jackson for another blistering hoop, it was a 38-35 game with the Rams on top. 

Udoh followed up with a hoop, trimming the deficit to one (38-37), but Central went into stall mode. 

Eastern finally fouled Watson with 17.3 seconds to play and on a 1-and-1 situation, the junior coolly sank both free throws to extend Central’s lead to 40-37. 

Parent took her late three, just missing the attempt, while Lauren Ayotte (three rebounds) also missed her putback before Leah Roy (10 rebounds) split a pair of charity tosses to trim the deficit to 40-38.  

“We did a better job I’d say in the last four minutes of the game taking away the stuff [Central] wanted to do,” said Floyd. “But the ball just didn’t fall the right way. We didn’t get the rebounds, we didn’t make that big play down there at the end, but we did have our opportunities. We [just] missed some lay-ups.” 

To clinch it, Watson made two insurance free throws late and, in the end, the visitors held on for a big four-point victory on Eastern’s home court. 

“Like I said, I’m beyond thrilled with that effort we got,” said Gaudet of the win. 

Bristol Central vs. Bristol Eastern – City Series Girls Basketball 

BRISTOL CENTRAL 42, BRISTOL EASTERN 38 

from the Thomas M. Monahan Gymnasium 

Bristol Central (9-3)              7 14 8 13 – 42 

Bristol Eastern (5-6)             8 11 10 9 – 38 

BRISTOL CENTRAL (42): Leilani Jackson 5 7 17, Molly McMahon 3 0 8, Brooke Watson 1 4 6, Kaley Laird 1 1 3, Julia Pikiell 0 0 0, Nicole Riemer 4 0 8. Totals: 14 12 42. 

BRISTOL EASTERN (51): Leah Roy 0 1 1, Lauren Ayotte 0 0 0, Autumn Udoh 5 5 15, Taigan Parent 5 7 18, Vanessa Drury 1 0 2, Amanda Noel 1 0 2. Totals: 12 13 38. 

Three-point goals: McMahon (BC) 2, Parent (BE). 

Records: Bristol Central 9-3 overall; Bristol Eastern 5-6.