By Michael Letendre

BRISTOL – Last Thursday night, in front of teammates, family and friends, the Bristol Eastern girls basketball team honored its lone senior – standout guard Taigan Parent before its game against Plainville.

A large crowd gathered for the contest and just about all of the BE boys basketball team were in the stands, wearing special Taigan Parent shirts that had her picture on them.

And there were plenty of signs and banners hanging off the walls of the Thomas M. Monahan Gymnasium to honor a very special four-year contributor to the Eastern program.

Taigan became the fourth member of the Parent family – which includes father D.J., mother Bevin (Borajkiewicz), and older brother Elijah – who all played basketball for the Lancers and earned a special senior night celebration.

And it was a well-deserved honor for the clever guard as Taigan Parent will leave the BEHS program as one of its all-time leading three-point shooters.

After an emotional embrace with her mother after the 44-17 victory over Plainville (which was unintentionally interrupted by the knuckle headed TBE reporter), TBE caught up with Taigan and talked about her final regular season home game as a member of the Bristol Eastern girls basketball program:

Michael Letendre, TBE: “How did you feel tonight because there was a big crowd rooting you on from the opening tip…”

Taigan Parent, BEHS girls basketball standout: “Yeah, it was good. We finally got some fans in the bleachers. I got some of the students to come, which was nice to show some support. The team decorated the entire gym for me, which was really nice. The support was there.”

Letendre: “Who made the ‘Taiwan Parent’ T-shirts a number of the players and students were wearing tonight?”

Parent: “My mom made the T-shirts.”

Letendre: “How cool is that? That’s something you don’t see on every ‘Senior Night’ celebration…

Parent: “They’re really cool. They wore them at school today. It was nice.”

Letendre: “You’re going to end up being Eastern’s single season all-time leader in three-pointers made for the girls program. You originally told me you wanted to be known as more than just a three-point shooter. But tell me about that long-range weapon because when you are draining multiple 3s, it changes the completion of the game.”

Parent: “Originally, I did say I wanted to be more than just a three-point shooter but after that, I hit more than I thought I would. I think most of the time, I think I’m not open and I just shoot it and it goes in.”

Letendre: “The game against Plainville was your last regular season game at Bristol Eastern. Did you have some fun tonight?”

Parent: “Yeah, I did. It was fun. It was nice playing with the girls. I’m going to miss it. I will. I’ll miss it.”

Letendre: “You’ve got Bristol Central on tap come Monday evening. You lost that first showdown here at Bristol Eastern by four points (42-38). What should we expect on Monday at Central in the rematch?”

Parent: “We just have to play hard. They’re definitely beatable. Last game [against Central], the adrenaline was a little much. We’re a young team so it’s expected. I think this time around, we’ll play better. We just have to push the ball and we should win.”

The final Regular Season games for the Parent family at Bristol Eastern – Over the years

The entire Parent family played its final scholastic regular season game on the hardwood from BEHS.

But how did each player from the Parent clan fare over that final game from the Thomas M. Monahan Gymnasium?

Who out of that family scored the most points on ‘Senior Night?’

Here’s the final results from those four outstanding players:

Name Year Final home game stats:

*D.J. Parent 1994 Six points, five rebounds vs. Platt, 0-for-2 from 3

*Bevin 1995 Game-high 20 points vs. Central. No 3s!

*Elijah 2021 20 points, four three-pointers made vs. Avon.

*Taigan 2023 17 points, 10 rebounds, four three-pointers vs. Plainville

So, who had the best showing out of the bunch?

Dad D.J. of course would say he had the best Senior Night (if he only scored two points, he’d make that ridiculous claim).

Both Bevin and Elijah scorched the competition for 20 points.

However, Bevin lost to Bristol Central that night and did not hit a 3.

So she’s out of the running and we’re not even considering D.J. because he didn’t make a 3.

Elijah also went for 20 points, hitting four 3s along the way against Avon and made a strong showing on ‘Senior Night’ despite a tough one-point loss to a tremendous Avon program.

However, the nod goes to Taigan as her double double was an impressive tally which led to a huge win 44-17 win over Plainville – helping the Lancers to their 10th victory of the year.

D.J. also won his game, dropping his team into a two-way tie with Platt for first place, leading to an eventual co-CCC South Championship (the first title in program history).