By Michael Letendre 

BRISTOL – For the second time this season, the Bristol Central girls basketball team got the better of its crosstown rival. 

The Rams earned the sweep against Bristol Eastern on Monday night, nearly leading wire-to-wire, as Central picked up a huge 43-38 victory over the Lancers from the Charles C. Marsh Gymnasium on the campus of Bristol Central in a CCC South showdown. 

The Rams ended their regular season at a sterling 15-5, sweeping the Lancers for the first time since the 1999-2000 campaign. 

“I thought our effort and our focus tonight was outstanding to the fine details,” said Central coach Steve Gaudet. “We had good scout. We’ve played them so many times we kind of know what to anticipate and the girls really bought in and did an excellent job defensively tonight.”  

Eastern (10-10) never threw in the towel but simply couldn’t get over the hump. 

The Kingstreeters missed early high-percentage hoops and free throws, shooting just 33-percent from the field overall (13-of-39). 

“Central played well,” said Eastern coach Tony Floyd. “We missed a lot of bunnies, a lot of lay-ups [and] a lot of foul shots. That’s the game. You can’t miss those shots especially when they’re easy ones at the beginning of the game.” 

Central’s Lelani Jackson was sensational, hitting shots from outside-in and when the home team needed a boost, the sophomore provided one. 

She ended the night with a team-high 17 points while reserve center Nicole Riemer crashed the boards and provided 13 points off the pine. 

“She’s hit clutch shot after clutch shot all year round,” said Gaudet of Jackson. “I’ve got a bunch of girls that can put the ball in the basket and can handle the basketball.” 

Central’s Ariana Rivera notched all eight of her points over the first 9:23 of the game as her drives to the hoop opened things up a bit in the paint. 

Defensively, the trio of senior Kelly Laird, along with Brooke Watson and Callie Lodovico did a good enough job slowing down Eastern’s sizzling backcourt of Taigan Parent and Vanessa Drury. 

But the Eastern duo managed to connect on a combined 12-of-22 from the field – hitting huge 3s along the way – to keep the squad afloat for most of the showdown, especially late. 

“I thought in the second half, there was a stretch where Taigan and Vanessa did a really good job keeping us there when we had a shot to win,” said Floyd. “They kept us in it. I have to give them a lot of credit for what they did today.” 

Drury splashed in a game-high 19 points, along with six rebounds, three assists and three steals while Parent grabbed her usual 15 points and nabbed a couple steals. 

Autumn Udoh added two points, nine rebounds, and a half-dozen blocked shots, Lauren Ayotte contributed a couple steals, Amanda Noel rejected two hoops while Leah Roy – playing her usual brand of defense – contributed two points and eight rebounds.  

“I thought Leah did a good job defensively,” said Floyd. “She was steady for us.” 

Parent opened Eastern’s scoring with a 3 as the visitors grabbed an early edge but Central had answers. 

A mini 8-2 run saw Jackson hit two jumpers while Rivera cashed in a couple high-percentage hoops as the Rams grabbed a 10-5 edge with 54 seconds remaining in the first quarter. 

The Lancers were never able to get the lead back, but they kept fighting to stay in contention. 

Eastern closed the deficit to one off a Drury steal and lay-up while Parent canned another jumper to make it a 10-9 game with 7:39 remaining before the half. 

However, Central surged ahead from there via a 12-2 burst as Jackson – hitting a 3 along the way – notched seven of those points and when she cashed in two charity tosses with 3:03 left in the second stanza, the Rams were in charge, 22-11. 

Central was on fire from the field, hitting nine of its first 15 shots to snare that double-figure lead.  

“I thought we played with a lot of composure and did some good things,” said Gaudet.  

Eastern used a 7-0 run to trim the deficit to four early in the third period as Central went five minutes around halftime without scoring a point. 

Drury dropped in a 3, Parent splashed in a hoop and off two Leah Roy free throws, Eastern was in it – down just 22-18 – with 6:37 to go in the third. 

But a jumper by Jackson and a hoop from Lodovico made it an eight-point game (26-18) midway through the stanza. 

Parent then hit two consecutive shots to trim the deficit back to three but to end the third, Laird found Riemer down low for a hoop and a floater by Jackson saw Central scoop up a 30-25 edge with eight minutes remaining. 

“We were always playing catch-up,” said Floyd. “[Central] did a great job. They made big shots at times when they needed to make big shots. They outhustled us. They worked a little bit harder defensively than we did.” 

Another bucket by Jackson extended Central’s cushion to 34-26 with 5:13 to play but Eastern made one last run at it. 

A 7-2 Eastern burst, with Drury banking in a hoop and later draining a 3, saw the Lancers trim the deficit to 36-33 with 3:34 remaining. 

Riemer – scoring eight points over the final 7:11 of the showdown – answered with two big composure buckets as Eastern was turning up the pressure and with 2:02 left, her offensive rebound and putback pushed the lead out to 40-35. 

Off an Eastern miss with 65 seconds left, and Central still ahead by five, the Rams went to its stall – forcing the Lancers to foul. 

Over 1-and-1 shooting situations from the line, Watson went 3-of-5 overall to eventually make it a seven-point affair (42-35) with 26.3 seconds remaining. 

Drury blasted in a late three, but it wasn’t enough as Central pulled out a huge five-point victory to earn the season sweep. 

“I thought we did an excellent job handling the basketball but also taking care of the basketball, running our sets and getting some good looks,” said Gaudet. 

City Series Girls Basketball – CCC South Showdown 

BRISTOL CENTRAL 43, BRISTOL EASTERN 38 

from the Charles C. Marsh Gymnasium 

Bristol Eastern (10-10)                     7 9 9 13 – 38 

Bristol Central (15-5)                       10 12 8 13 – 43 

BRISTOL EASTERN (38): Taigan Parent 5 3 15, Vanessa Drury 7 2 19, Leah Roy 0 2 2, Amanda Noel 0 0 0, Lauren Ayotte 0 0 0, Autumn Udoh 1 0 2. Totals: 13 7 38. 

BRISTOL CENTRAL (43): Lelani Jackson 7 2 17, Molly McMahon 0 0 0, Brooke Watson 0 3 3, Kaley Laird 0 0 0, Ariana Rivera 4 0 8, Julia
Pikiell 0 0 0, Callie Lodovico 1 0 2, Nicole Riemer 6 1 13. Totals: 18 6 43. 

Three-point goals: Parent (BE) 2, Drury (BE) 3, Jackson (BC). 

Records: Bristol Central 15-5 overall; Bristol Eastern 10-10.