By Michael Letendre
SOUTH WINDSOR – Bristol Eastern girls basketball coach Tony Floyd knew that sometime this season, freshman reserve Jayle Evins-Mosley was going to have a big game.
In fact, every person in and around the Eastern program has been waiting for such a contest from the first year forward/center.
And that game came to pass on Monday night in a CIAC Class L first round showdown against No. 14 South Windsor on the road.
No. 19 Bristol Eastern pulled off a little March Madness – just a bit early in late February – as Evins-Mosley and the Kingstreeters pulled off a big 52-46 upset over the Bobcats to move on to second round play.
Eastern improved to 11-11 overall while South Windsor ends its season at 13-9.
Evins-Mosley was sensational off the bench, leading the squad with 14 points on slick 7-of-7 shooting while also scooping in three offensive rebounds – collecting six overall.
Senior sensation Taigan Parent blasted in three 3-pointers on her way to 13 points to go along with two assists and two steals while Autumn Udoh flashed in 12 points, six rebounds and a couple steals.
Amanda Noel added five points, a couple rebounds and two steals, Vanessa Drury nabbed four points, three rebounds and five assists while Lauren Ayotte grabbed a rebound along the way.
And forward Leah Roy was simply tremendous as she hit her first jumper that led to a four-point, six-rebound, five-assist and two-steal effort.
Eastern’s bench of Evins-Mosley and Noel combined to shoot 9-for-9 from the field while the Lancers shot 46.3-percent overall for the game.
The Lancers’ defense stepped up over second-half play, limiting the Bobcats to just seven third period points as the visiting aggression never trailed over the final 13 minutes of the showdown.
South Windsor’s Anna Matus led all players with 17 points while Olivia Petgrave and Reagan Heafey-DeAngelis each supplied 10 over the losing effort.
Roy and Parent (three-pointer) nabbed back-to-back jumpers to open play but via the power of an 11-1 South Windsor burst – ended with a Heafey-DeAngelis lay-up – the home team led 11-6 with 3:05 left to play in the first tilt.
Evins-Mosley later put back a miss, then scored again off a Drury dish-off and when Parent found Roy for a lay-up to end the first frame scoring, Eastern trailed 15-12 but the squad was in contention.
The teams traded baskets in the second stanza as Noel canned two hoops and when Drury found Parent for her second 3 of the game, Eastern had the deficit trimmed to 20-19 with 5:51 to go in the half.
But the Lancers never got the lead back before intermission and even as Udoh notched the final three points of the second, the Bobcats held a 25-22 push at the break.
But that lead didn’t last long as Eastern, with Evins-Mosley starting the third quarter, cued a 7-2 burst with two straight field goals, and when Udoh found Parent for her final 3 of the contest with 5:00 left in the frame, Eastern regained the edge at 29-27.
The freshman duo of Evins-Mosley and Udoh scored the final five Eastern points of the third and with eight minutes remaining, the road warriors were holding on to a slight 34-32 edge.
The fourth period went back and forth though South Windsor – tying the game twice over the final minutes – never truly got over the hump.
Matus canned a 3 and later drilled two free throws and with 5:00 to go, the contest was all knotted at 44-44.
Udoh made it academic with two charity tosses and when she dumped in a hoop with 3:15 left, the Kingstreeters were in charge at 48-44.
Late in the fourth, the teams exchanged turnovers, South Windsor posted two big misses from deep and eventually, Eastern found itself with two one-and-one situations.
Two clutch foul shots by both Drury and Parent over the closing 37.2 seconds sealed the deal for Eastern as the locals came away with an outstanding six-point win (52-46) to move on in tournament play against No. 3 Edwin O. Smith on Thursday evening.
NOTES…Edwin O. Smith had an outstanding season to date at 20-4 overall while downing Farmington (56-32) in Class L first round play…The Panthers – with the cool Thundercat’s logo on their gymnasium floor (I smell a lawsuit) – dropped regular season decisions to just Scared Heart Academy (59-47), Newington (58-31) and Simsbury (39-31) and to Conard (34-30) in CCC Tournament play. Back on January 3, Smith dropped South Windsor by a 57-35 final.
Bristol Eastern Girls Basketball – Class L First Round Showdown
No. 19 BRISTOL EASTERN 52, No. 14 SOUTH WINDSOR 46
Bristol Eastern (11-11) 12 10 12 18 – 52
South Windsor (13-9) 15 10 7 14 – 46
BRISTOL EASTERN (52): Leah Roy 2 0 4, Lauren Ayotte 0 0 0, Autumn Udoh 4 4 12, Taiwan Parent 4 2 13, Vanessa Drury 0 4 4, Amanda Noel 2 1 5, Jayle Evens Mosley 7 0 14. Totals: 19 11 52.
SOUTH WINDSOR (46): Anna Matus 5 4 17, Erin Martin 1 1 4, Kaitlyn Bullock 0 0 0, Olivia Petgrave 3 4 10, Reagan Heafey-DeAngelis 4 1 10, Katie Dunn 0 0 0, Avery Brooch 2 1 5. Totals: 15 11 46.
Three-point goals: Parent (BE) 3, Matus (SW) 3, Martin (SW) 1, Heafey-DeAngelis (SW).
Records: Bristol Eastern 11-11 overall; South Windsor 13-9.
