By Michael Letendre

BRISTOL – With the return of a familiar head coach to the Bristol Eastern girls basketball sidelines, coupled by a career night from freshmen Emma Stavens, the Lancers were able to avenge an early season loss against Southington on Monday, March 8.

And it was a huge victory for the locals as the Lancers toppled the Knights by a 55-37 final from the Thomas M. Monahan Gymnasium in Bristol.

Eastern raised its record to 7-2 overall while Southington fell to 7-2 over the shortened campaign.

Floyd, stuck in COVID protocol over the last couple weeks, was eager to get back to work and was in rare form – giving his troops a little encouragement from the sidelines along the way.

The night belonged to Stavens early and once adjustments were made, Eastern’s leading scorer, Ciara Collins, took over the scoring load.

Stavens made her first scholastic start count, hitting her first five field goals, notching 11 first quarter points as she came away with a season-high 15 points and six rebounds while adding three assists along the way.

Collins, the junior sensation, put in another stellar performance with a game-high 28 points, posting eight rebounds, four assists and three steals to fill another stat sheet.

She scored 26 points over the final three periods of play, taking over where Stavens left off offensively.

Alyssa Kehler connected on six points, six rebounds, and two assists, teammate Sage Scarritt added seven rebounds, Janessa Gonzalez chipped in four points and four rebounds, Taigan Parent also nabbed four rebounds as did Audrey Tice.

Allison Carr zipped up 12 points while Livvy Pizzitola scored eight for Howie Hewitt’s Knights but after six minutes of play, the visitors were in catch-up mode the rest of the way.

The loss broke Southington’s six-game winning streak and was the program’s biggest setback of the campaign.

The Knights forced Eastern into several miscues and turnovers thanks in part to 16 steals but the visitors never could cash in on the offense end.

Southington started the contest by missing 17 of 19 field goals as Eastern’s stellar defense limited the Knights to an ice cold 19-percent shooting clip from the field overall.

It was back-and-forth early as the teams battled to a 6-6 stalemate midway through the first frame but Collins and Tice found Stavens for three consecutive hoops – including a blistering three-point bomb – to end the quarter as the Kingstreeters led 13-6 after eight exciting minutes.

To open the second stanza, Gonzalez and Collins canned free throws and when the game’s leading scorer spun and drained a nifty mid-range jumper, it was an 18-6 contest early in the period.

But the Eastern offense went on a bit of a lull as Southington netted seven straight points to chop the deficit to 18-13 near the tail-end of the half.

Going into the break, Collins scored five straight points and when Pizzitola ended things with a 3, Southington looked up at a 23-16 deficit on the scoreboard.

Pesky Southington stayed in the mix to open the third tilt and when Kelley Marshall (six second-half points) dropped in a lay-up and a free throw, Eastern’s lead was chopped to 27-23.

But the Knights never got that close again as the Lancers defense picked up steam.

Eastern ended the quarter with a 10-2 burst, capped by a Kehler hoop off a nice feed from Collins, and with one period remaining, the Lancers built up a 37-25 edge.

Southington hit three free throws to open the fourth frame that made it a single-digit affair again (37-28) but from there, it was all Eastern.

An 8-0 run did-in the Knights as Collins nabbed consecutive jumpers while Kehler and Stavens added two free throws apiece and halfway through the fourth, it was a 45-28 game with the home team in cruise control.

A three-point play by Pizzitola trimmed the deficit to 49-37 late but Eastern played keep-away and Southington was eventually forced to foul.

Stavens and Collins dropped in free throws to end the contest with the Lancers coming away 55-37 winners as a date against Bristol Central loomed on Thursday.

CCC Region B girls basketball

BRISTOL EASTERN 55, SOUTHINGTON 37

from the Thomas M. Monahan Gymnasium

Southington (7-2)        6 10 9 12 – 37

Bristol Eastern (7-2) 13 10 14 18 – 55 

SOUTHINGTON (37): Gabby D’Angelo 0 0 0, Taylor Sullivan 0 1 1, Allison Mikosz 1 2 5, Livvy Pizzitola 3 1 8, Allison Carr 4 4 12, Kelley  Marshall 1 4 6, Samantha Sullivan 2 0 5. TOTALS: 11 12 37.

BRISTOL EASTERN (55): Taigan Parent 0 0 0, Ciara Collins 9 8 28,  Audrey Tice 0 0 0,  Alyssa Kehler 2 2 6, Janessa Gonzalez 2 2 6, Sage Scarritt 0 0 0, Emma Stavens 5 4 15, Sarah Lacouture 0 0 0, Emily Piendak 0 0 0, Vanessa Drury 0 0 0. TOTALS: 18 16 55.

Three Point Goals: Mikosz (S), Pizzitola (S), Sullivan (S), Collins (BE) 2, Stavens (BE).

Records: Bristol Eastern 7-2; Southington 7-2