By Michael Letendre
BRISTOL – Down its starting center – and head coach for the third straight game – the Bristol Eastern girls basketball team continued to find ways to win this season and against a scrappy Avon squad on Monday night, the end result was a familiar one.
Eastern defeated Avon, 49-37, in a CCC Region B tilt from the Thomas M. Monahan Gymnasium in Bristol.
The Lancers moved to 6-1 on the campaign, keeping pace with Southington (6-1) for the CCC Region B lead.
Eastern head coach Tony Floyd missed the past three games due to COVID protocols and the Lancers have gone 2-1 over that stretch.
Bristol led wire-to-wire against Avon but couldn’t shake the Falcons (2-5) as the squad found seams in the Eastern defense for hoops, took advantage of second and third shooting opportunities and scored several baskets in the paint.
Eastern was without senior Sage Scarritt, the team’s second leading rebounder, and her all-around game, experience, and leadership was sorely missed.
“That hurts a lot, especially defensively,” said acting head coach Mark Camden about missing Scarritt. “Our defense runs through Sage and she’s going to rebound for us inside. And those guys are kind of playing out of position a little bit. We had to make some adjustments but we got it done.”
“It’s a tough year. You’re constantly missing pieces; coaching staff, players…it’s a difficult year.”
And who picked up the slack for Eastern?
It was all seven players who took the court that night for the Lancers that night.
Eastern do-it-all junior Ciara Collins collected an eye-popping 20 points, 10 rebounds and a career-high seven blocks – missing a rare scholastic triple-double with blocked shots by just three rejections.
“Ciara’s been big for us especially since Tony’s been out,” said Camden. “I can’t say enough about her. She’s doing more than what we really want her to do. The other guys have to be able to score and defend and rebound as well. She’s picked up a lot of slack.”
Alyssa Kehler added eight points and six rebounds, Cali Doyon scored seven points to go along with two assists and two steals, Janessa Gonzalez went for six points and five assists while Taigan Parent – reinserted into the starting line-up – tallied four points, two rebounds, and two assists.
But first year players Emma Stavens and Audrey Tice were tremendous for the Lancers against Avon.
The freshmen combined to play 33 minutes and made invaluable contributions throughout the showdown.
Stavens collected four points, two rebounds, two assists, and two steals while Tice grabbed three rebounds that helped the Lancers win in the end.
“We’ve kind of put them in a tough spot where you hope freshmen can play [at the] freshmen [level] and maybe a little JV but they’ve been thrown right into the varsity game,” said Camden of Stavens and Tice. “And they’re both playing a lot of minutes and we’re asking a lot of them. They’ve done a great job for us.”
Avon, a very young team in terms of experience, was led by Adeline Standish and the forward hit several high-percentage hoops on her way to 16 points while Jocelyn Powers added nine.
The Falcons did a decent job against Eastern’s defensive press but always played from behind throughout the thirty-two minute encounter.
Eastern started the contest on a 9-2 run, capped by a hoop from Kehler off a nice Collins dish three minutes into things.
The Falcons charged back with seven straight points and when Lindsey Arigoni hit a 3 with 3:34 left in the first quarter, it was all tied up at 9-9.
That would be the final tie of the game as Collins heated up, scoring Eastern’s next nine points, and off a steal and hoop from Doyon and a bucket by Stavens, the home team was up by nine at 22-13 with 5:12 left to go in the second stanza.
Avon’s Katelyn Wankier hit two shots to close the deficit to seven late in the half but Doyon canned a lay-up, Kehler grabbed an offensive rebound and put it in for two and when one final jumper by Collins fell through the net, Eastern extended its edge to 30-17 at the half.
Gonzalez opened the third tilt with consecutive free throws to give the Lancers a 32-17 lead but Avon scored eight quick points to make it a game again.
Standish netted the final two buckets of that 8-0 push and with 4:18 to go in the third, the visitors were hanging around, down just 32-25.
Collins later made two free throws and when Collins found Parent for a jumper, it was 38-26 in Eastern’s favor with 1:12 left in the third period.
To end the quarter, Collins connected with Parent again for one final hoop and then the junior kicked in another 3-pointer as the Lancers led 43-29 with eight minutes to play.
Eastern’s defense paid off late as the Falcons were limited to just eight points in the fourth frame and the Lancers finished the contest with jumpers by Gonzalez, Kehler and Stavens as the visitors never threatened late.
In the end, Eastern wrangled up a 49-37 win to move to 6-1 overall with a big game at Plainville on Thursday looming.
“A win is a win,” said Camden. “Hopefully Thursday, we show up in Plainville. It’s going to be a whole different game, playing on that floor. Hopefully, we’ll be ready and hopefully get Sage back for Thursday and be back at full strength against them.”
“It’s going to be a [good] game.”
CCC Region B girls basketball
BRISTOL EASTERN 49, AVON 37
from the Thomas M. Monahan Gymnasium, Bristol
Avon (2-5) 11 6 12 8 – 37
Bristol Eastern (6-1) 16 14 13 6 – 49
AVON (37): Jocelyn Powers 4 0 9, Sophie Mango 1 1 3, Lindsey Arigoni 1 0 3, Adeline Standish 8 0 16, Jordyn Platz 1 0 2, Mya Hall 0 0 0, Katelyn Wankier 2 0 4. Totals: 17 1 37.
BRISTOL EASTERN (49): Taigan Parent 2 0 4, Ciara Collins 7 4 20, Audrey Tice 0 0 0, Cali Doyon 2 3 7, Alyssa Kehler 4 0 8, Janessa Gonzalez 2 2 6, Emma Stavens 2 0 4. Totals: 19 9 49.
Three Point Goals: Powers (A), Arigoni (A), Collins (BE) 2.
Records: Bristol Eastern 6-1 overall; Avon 2-5
