By Michael Letendre
WEST HARTFORD – After a challenging contest at Avon last Friday night, how would the girls basketball team from Bristol Eastern fare against Hall on the road from West Hartford on Tuesday evening?
Well, the Lancers made big shots early, nabbing a 16 point cushion, watched it all evaporate before a couple slick freshmen from Eastern buried late 3-point bombs as the Kingstreeters turned away the Titans 46-41 in a CCC interdivisional clash.
Eastern (3-0) remained undefeated on the campaign while Hall fell to 1-2 overall.
Fast forwarding to the final minutes of the showdown, Eastern was clinging to a 40-39 lead and was a missed shot or a turnover away from letting Hall seize the momentum.
But it never happened as Eastern’s Cassie Sward splashed in a huge 3 to make it a two-possession game with 1:53 to go.
Sward was left open in front of the Eastern bench and when she set her feet and shot, the ball cleanly splashed through the net to make it a 43-39 game.
After Hall’s Madison Maxwell hit a free throw – again making it a one-hoop affair – it was Savannah Drury’s turn as she drained a huge 3-pointer of her own and just like that, the Lancers led 46-40 with 44.6 seconds to play.
Hall never got any closer than five points the rest of the way, leading to back-to-back road wins for Eastern.
Sward and Drury showed tremendous poise and earned late period minutes due to foul trouble and disqualifications.
Those efforts helped augment a good effort by Eastern, led by another videogame like stat-line from Autumn Udoh as she dropped in 23 points, 13 rebounds and six blocked shots – flirting with a triple-double.
Vanessa Drury hustled for nine points, six rebounds, seven assists and three steals while Amanda Noel posted six points, nine rebounds and four blocks before the duo fouled out.
Savannah Drury added five points, three rebounds and three steals over her second ever scholastic start, Sward canned that big three while Lauren Ayotte snatched eight rebounds and tallied two steals.
Alaina Joy and Natalia Vye also saw floor-time for the Lancers.
Anya Leshem led Hall with 12 points but the squad had a hard time getting on track offensively.
The Kingstreeters led for all but 11 seconds as back-to-back threes from the Titans gave the home team a 37-36 lead with 4:54 left to play in regulation.
Defense fueled the day as Hall missed 25 of its first 28 shots from the field – starting in a 1-of-16 hole the squad had trouble navigating out of.
The Lancers led 4-3 with 44 seconds to play in the first period but reeled off 15 straight points to capture its 16-point cushion.
Drury added four straight points, Udoh had a steal and lay-up, Noel hit a jumper, Udoh canned back-to-back hoops, and when Savannah Drury found her sister for a blistering 3 with 2:19 to go in the second stanza, it was a 19-3 game.
Midway through the third tilt, Vanessa Drury passed off to Udoh for a midrange jumper and with 4:03 remaining, Eastern’s edge was 26-10.
But the Titans started hitting shots late in the third and off a 12-4 push – including a buzzer beater by Leah Berey (10 points) – the Lancers’ edge was trimmed to 34-27 with eight minutes remaining.
Eastern led by five with 6:45 to play until back-to-back 3s by Hall gave the home team its first lead.
Hall’s Sofia Ruffo (nine points) drained the latter 3 off a broken play as the Titans snared their first lead at 37-36 with 4:54 left.
Evelen seconds later, Udoh put back a missed Noel free throw as Eastern regained the lead at 38-37 with 4:43 on the clock – never to trail again.
Ruffo hit a jumper to chop the deficit to one (40-39) with 2:11 to play before the Kingstreeters scored six of the final seven points in the game, coming via the trifectas by Sward and Savannah Drury, as Eastern nabbed a 46-41 edge to stay undefeated on the year.
Next up for the Lancers is a home game against Platt tonight in Bristol at 5:30 p.m.
The Panthers are 0-3 and average just 20.0 points-per-game.
The Platt showdown starts a stretch of six consecutive home games for the Kingstreeters, looking to possibly qualify for state tournament play during that time.
Bristol Eastern Girls Basketball – CCC Interdivisional Confrontation
BRISTOL EASTERN 46, HALL 41
From Hall High School, West Hartford
Bristol Eastern (3-0) 6 14 14 12 – 46
Hall (1-2) 3 6 18 14 – 41
BRISTOL EASTERN (47): Vaneesa Drury 2 4 9, Cassie Sward 1 0 3, Amanda Noel 3 0 6, Savannah Drury 1 2 5, Autumn Udoh 11 1 23, Lauren Ayotte 0 0 0, Alaina Joy 0 0 0, Natalia Vye 0 0 0. Totals: 18 7 46.
HALL (41): Sofia Ruffo 3 1 9, Leah Barey 3 3 10, Madison Maxwell 1 2 5, Anya Leshem 5 1 12, Alezandra Golder 1 2 4, Heaven Smith 0 1 1. Totals: 13 10 41.
Three-point goals: Vanessa Drury (BE), Cassie Sward (BE), Savannah Drury (BE), Sofia Ruffo (H) 2, Leah Barey (H), Madison Maxwell (H), Anya Leshem (H).
Records: Bristol Eastern 3-0 overall; Hall 1-2.
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