By Michael Letendre
BRISTOL – Win No. 8 for the Bristol Eastern girls basketball team came on Friday night as the Lancers battled Farmington in a huge CCC Interdivisional tilt in Bristol.
But it took a little time as the bigger River Hawks hung with the Lancers over the first 20 minutes of the showdown.
However, Eastern’s Taigan Parent drained three consecutive 3-pointers midway through the third tilt and once the Lancers established a double-figure edge in the game, Farmington never got back in contention.
Parent dropped in a game-high 23 points as the senior standout made all the big shots, dropping pesky Farmington by a 57-41 decision from the Thomas M. Monahan Gymnasium.
With the victory, the Lancers moved to 8-9 overall while the Red Hawks dropped to 5-12.
The win also earned Eastern a trip back to the state tournament, a streak that started in 1996 as the Kingstreeters have been postseason participants every year since.
It was a 34-33 game midway through the third quarter as Eastern was clinging to a small edge over Farmington.
But from there, Parent (five three-pointers, two rebounds, six assists, two steals) blistered Farmington for nine straight points via 3-point bombs, Vanessa Drury added a hoop and when Autumn Udoh notched four points, it resulted in a slick 15-0 run as the Lancers nabbed a 49-33 cushion with around seven minutes left to play in the game.
Udoh, once again putting together video game-like statistics that night, was flirting with a quadruple-double.
The freshman roped up 17 points, 11 rebounds, six blocks and six steals as Udoh did a little of everything that night.
Drury played extremely well, helping Parent direct traffic, as the junior guard wrapped up 12 points, six rebounds, six steals and three assists.
Also for the Lancers, Leah Roy nabbed four points, nine rebounds and three assists, Amanda Noel snared three rebounds while Lauren Ayotte added two.
Farmington was led by Abby Bertolette who scored 20 points, notching nearly half the squad’s final scoring total.
Both programs held the lead early but off a jumper from Udoh and a 3 by Drury, the Lancers led 13-8 with 34 seconds remaining in the first frame.
But it was all tied up at 13-13 through one as Farmington’s Leah McKenzie canned a three from the corner at the buzzer to knot things up.
Early in the second, the River Hawks snared a five-point lead but a 7-0 Eastern burst, fueled by two Udoh free throws, a Parent jumper and a Drury three-pointer, gave Eastern a 25-23 edge with 1:50 remaining to play in the first half.
And after one final lay-in by Udoh, a steal that saw the first-year player go coast-to-coast for a big bucket, gave Eastern a 28-25 lead at the half.
Farmington was never able to catch-up over third period play and when it was 34-33 midway through the third, Parent simply went off from deep.
Drury found Parent for two 3s, Roy dished off to the senior for the other trifecta, as the game was about to fall through the cracks for Farmington.
Then Parent made a steal, feeding Drury for a hoop, and Udoh ended the spurt by hitting two charity tosses as Eastern opened up a 47-33 lead with one quarter left to play.
Udoh opened the final set with a turnaround jumper as Farmington trailed by 16 early in the fourth.
To end the scoring, Roy cashed in on an offensive rebound and Parent concluded the fun with a jumper and two free throws as Eastern won by sixteen points to punch its playoff ticket with three games remaining on its regular season slate.
Bristol Eastern Girls Basketball – CCC Interdivisional Play
BRISTOL EASTERN 57, FARMINGTON 41
from the Thomas M. Monahan Gymnasium, Bristol
Farmington (5-12) 13 12 8 8 – 41
Bristol Eastern (8-9) 13 15 18 10 – 57
FARMINGTON (41): Sarah Bertolette 3 2 8, Reshhma Palanivel 0 0 0, Abby Bertolette 9 2 20, Brooke Jones 1 4 6, Lauren Jones 0 0 0, Abby Finn 0 0 0, Lucy Scudder 1 0 2, Lily Picard 0 0 0, Anita George 0 0 0, Leah McKenzie 2 0 5. Totals: 16 8 41.
BRISTOL EASTERN (57): Taigan Parent 8 2 23, Vanessa Drury 4 2 12, Leah Roy 2 0 4, Amanda Noel 0 1 1, Lauren Ayotte 0 0 0, Autumn Udoh 5 7 17. Totals: 19 12 57.
Three-point goals: McKenzie (F), Parent (BE) 5, Drury (BE) 2.
Records: Bristol Eastern 8-9 overall; Farmington 5-12.
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