First in a four-part series on BEHS girls basketball championships under coach Tony Floyd
By Michael Letendre
Just like all children aren’t the same, every state championship that Bristol Eastern head coach Tony Floyd — the newest member of the Connecticut girls basketball 600-win club — won was not the same.
The veteran coach has complied four state title teams over his several glorious years at Eastern, earning 605 victories overall.
And each squad that won it all did it with their own styles, abilities and talents.
“All the state championships were different,” said Floyd of his four titles.
With the scholastic basketball championships taking place at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville this past weekend, it was an appropriate time to relook at all those titles Eastern brought home to King Street.
The first championship season came at the completion of the 1982-83 campaign — pulling off a tremendous upset over Norwalk in New Haven.
Here’s how Eastern pulled off that huge upset to win the school’s first ever scholastic title:
The 1982-1983 season
After finishing with consecutive 14-6 ledgers the previous two years, the Lancers surged to finish 18-5 in 1982-83 and then surprised Norwalk in the Class LL (then called Class AA) title game from Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven.
It was the CIAC’s 10th girls championship weekend in hoop and the Lancers made one heck of a tournament run.
“My first one was unbelievable,” said Floyd of the 1982-83 championship. “I had a group of players that no one thought would do anything.”
Eastern’s Kate Phelan — a slick 6-foot-1 forward/center — was a second team Class LL All-State pick that season while Chryss Watts, an extreme athlete, earned an honorable mention nod.
Other standouts from that tremendous squad from Bristol included captain Donna Elliott, Lucette Tucker, Jill and Barbara Micucci, Beth Kauke and Tracy Bryant.
Eastern had an up-and-down regular season but when the group opened the playoffs, everything started to click.
The Lancers were ranked sixth in the East side of the Class AA bracket, entering tournament play at 13-5 overall.
Eastern battled No. 11 Manchester (12-8) in first round play from the gymnasium at BEHS.
And it was a game-by-game dash to the championship round which also included confrontations against No. 3 South Windsor, No. 7 Mercy, and top-ranked Norwich Free Academy in the semifinals.
After spinning NFA, it was time to battle top ranked Norwalk, the No. 1 seed in the West.
“We made that run,” said Floyd. “I took a team that went down and played every team hard. They were just kids that listened to details, and they believed in me and believed what my coaching staff was about.”
But it all wasn’t smooth sailing as the crew from Bristol had a couple near misses.
Phelan was a scoring machine throughout the regular season, dropping 31 points over a tough 54-52 loss in Waterbury to Holy Cross on January 3, 1983, in a non-conference affair (Eastern missed 19 free throws that day, going 22-of-41 overall from the line).
Entering the first city series showdown against Bristol Central, the Lancers were just 4-4 but went 14-1 the rest of the way to snare the state championship.
Phelan notched 18 points while Barbara Micucci added 15 as the Lancers snatched a 51-27 win at BCHS on Jan. 13.
Patricia Burke came off the bench to score five points for the Rams.
Eastern’s final setback of the year came on February 10, dropping a 51-43 decision to Northwest Catholic as the Lancers moved to 10-5 overall.
Phelan hit for 14 points while Watts added 10 to pace the Kingstreeters.
Watts dropped 24 points on Southington in Eastern’s 56-52 win on Feb. 14 as the Knights lost for the first time in conference play.
A 76-35 victory by Eastern over Newington eight days later saw Phelan (26 points) and Watts (21) combine for 47 points.
And off the 13-5 regular season finish, it was time for a near flawless run to Eastern’s first ever state championship.
“They executed everything we did,” said Floyd of the state tournament. “And they did well.”
Three players scored in double figures to open first round play in Eastern’s 87-35 demolition of Manchester.
Watts led all players with 24 points, Phelan added 17, Jill Micucci notched 15 and Kauke flipped in 10 to lead the offense.
Leading by two at the half of its second-round game at South Windsor, Phelan (team-high 13 points, 12 rebounds) and Watts (eight points, six blocks) combined for 13 second-half points as the Lancers came away a 46-33 victory.
Tucker flashed in nine points while Kauke added eight for the Lancers.
Mercy (15-6) challenged Eastern in the quarterfinals but could not sustain a 37-32 edge going into the final quarter of play.
Phelan (12 points) outscored Mercy all by herself as she dropped in six points as Eastern won the period, 10-4, as the Lancers advanced via a huge 42-41 win.
In fact, it was Phelan’s jumper with 3:06 left to play that iced the game as the Tigers didn’t score a single point over the final six minutes of regulation.
And then in the Class AA East Region final, Eastern stomped Norwich Free Academy 49-26 to get to the final for the first time in school history.
It was all tied up at 11-11 through one but Eastern led 24-15 at the half and allowed just 11 second-half points to clinch the win over NFA.
Phelan just missed out on a double-double (19 points, nine rebounds) while Watts and Kauke each kicked in seven points.
Tucker added a big three-point play in the first period while Elliott, Jill Micucci and Tucker all played well defensively.
The win set up a date against Norwalk (25-1) and the extremely talented Cherise Mickle, an outstanding 5-foot-9 senior forward, averaged just under 17.0 points-per-game.
“They played a team that had just one or two losses, the No. 1 team in the state in Norwalk,” said Floyd of Eastern. “And they beat them down there. That was a credit to those kids.”
Phelan scored 12 of her 20 points over first period play as Eastern wrangled up an 18-10 lead through one.
The Lancers snared a 28-25 halftime edge, but Norwalk allowed the Kingstreeters just seven third period points as the showdown was all knotted at 35-35 with eight minutes to play in regulation.
Watts, who was held scoreless to that point of the game, scored nine fourth period points while Elliott (10 points) added five to help clinch it.
Mickle scored a game-high 20 points, getting eight in the fourth, but the Lancers canned five-of-nine free throws late to eventually post Eastern to its 52-47 win, earning the Class AA title in the process.
“They worked hard every day, they believed in the staff and the staff believed in them. And they developed.”
It was just the second loss of the season for Norwalk (25-2), but it was just the start of a very successful decade of the 1980s for the girls basketball program over at Bristol Eastern.
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