By Michael Letendre
BRISTOL – Trailing big to an undefeated girls basketball team from Gilbert of Torrington, the squad at Bristol Central nearly pulled off a huge upset bid.
Down 19 points, the Rams used a tremendous run to square up the score with 3:29 left to play in the game.
But the Rams simply ran out of gas as Central absorbed a tough 62-56 loss on Thursday from the Charles C. Marsh Gymnasium in Bristol.
Gilbert moved to 6-0 over the winning effort while Central dropped to 0-5.
Down a starter, the Rams emptied the tank in the end, getting superior effort from all eight players that competed on the floor that night.
“The energy and the effort it took to get back in, and us not being deep at all, I literally [usually] play six players, one of them isn’t here today,” said Central coach Steve Gaudet. “I was down one player. So I called on Kaley Laird and Maddy Pikell off the bench who really don’t play a lot of varsity minutes if any. And we were struggling with Brooke [Watson] fouling out.”
“It stinks because these kids deserve a win.”
Central trailed 46-27 with 2:27 left to play in the third but the Rams fired back, going on a 24-5 spurt to square things up.
On a lay-up from Lillian Sirois (team-high 24 points), the contest was all tied up at 51-51 with 3:29 to go in the showdown.
But thirty seconds later, the Yellowjackets retook the lead and never gave it up again.
Gilbert’s crafty point guard Emily Arel dropped in a game-high 28 points, hitting several shots over the first 16 minutes of the contest while Ajla Gutic played well in the pivot, nabbing 17 points and several offensive rebounds off missed free throws by the Yellowjackets.
Central misfired on half-a-dozen second half charity tosses while every offensive rebound gave Gilbert an extra possession.
“We missed too many free throws tonight and let them have too many second chance opportunities on [missed] three throws,” said Gaudet.
Sirois was tremendous, hitting the paint with zest – compiling half of her 24 points over a stretch of 4:26 in the final tilt.
“She’s had a great game every night,” said Gaudet of Sirois. “Maybe except for the first game, she’s played outstanding every night. She has intensity, that killer instinct, she wants to have the ball in her hands at crucial times and wants to score. We kept feeding her and at the end and she kept producing.”
Ariana Rivera notched all 11 of her points over second half play, Brooke Watson added 11 of her own while Ella Watson and Callie Lodovico each netted four.
Laird, Pikell, and Aaliyah Sirois all contributed something over Central’s outstanding effort.
Gilbert led 31-26 at the half before Arel went off, canning three 3s and another hoop over a 12-1 run in a matter of 1:59 – making it a 38-22 contest with 6:01 remaining in the third.
And as Central made its run, Arel was limited to just six points over the final 14 minutes of the showdown.
“We went straight man but face-guarding her once she got the ball at the beginning,” said Gaudet of defending Arel. “Then we went into a box-and-one. And then we just went straight man and had to know where she was. But when we picked up full [court defense], it kind of forced a tempo that we wanted, and it got the ball in other people’s hands. And for them, they had to make [other] decisions. That was key to getting us back in there.”
Sirois scored seven of Central’s first 13 points as the home team led it, 13-8 with 2:12 left to play in the first frame.
Arel and Gutic then scored all the hoops in a Yellowjackets’ 12-0 burst and with 5:18 to go in the half, the visitors scooped up a 20-13 edge.
Sirois hit a late free throw and when Brooke Watson kicked in a 3, the halftime deficit was just 26-21.
And down 19 late in the third period, Central trimmed the deficit to 47-33 through three as the Rams made their run.
In a matter of 1:19, Sirois had two steals and lay-ups as the deficit was trimmed to 47-41 as Central was rolling.
Sirois and Rivera then both hit multiple high-percentage buckets and when the Rams’ leading soccer canned a lay-up off a nice feed from Ella Watson, it was a brand-new game at 51-51 with 3:29 to go.
“Ariana and Lilly got us back in the game with that little pick and roll action we were running,’ said Gaudet.
The teams traded turnovers before Gilbert’s Maddie Propfe hit two charity tosses that gave the visitors the lead for good at 53-51 with 2:59 remaining.
Late in the fray, Rivera hit a free throw and a hoop and with 1:13 showing on the clock, Central was still in it – trailing 57-54.
“Ariana Rivera at the end” played well said Gaudet. “With Brooke fouling out, she had to take over the point [guard position]. I thought Brooke played outstanding offensively tonight.”
Laird hit a runner in the lane to cut the deficit to two late but a critical offensive rebound off two missed free throws led to Central fouling Arel – who appeared to have dribbled the ball out of bounds on the play – made two free throws to ice the game with 25.6 left – making it a 60-56 contest Central would not recover from.
In the end, the Rams certainly derived a better fate, ending up on the wrong side of a 62-56 final.
“They worked hard,’ said Gaudet of his squad. “Hopefully, we’ll go back to work and turn this thing around.”
Central gets that opportunity on Monday at home versus Plainville at 6 p.m.
BRISTOL CENTRAL HOLIDAY TOURNAMENT
GILBERT 62, BRISTOL CENTRAL 56
from the Charles C. Marsh Gymnasium, Bristol
Gilbert (6-0) 13 13 21 15 – 62
Bristol Central (0-5) 13 8 12 23 – 56
GILBERT (62): Kimmy McCarthy 0 0 0, Emily Arel 9 6 28, Samantha Lukowski 3 1 7, Maddie Propfe 2 2 6, Madison Tanis 0 0 0, Andrea Buncalan 0 0 0, Yani Cabral 0 0 0, Caitlin Tucker 0 0 0, Ajla Gutic 7 1 17, Alina Gutic 1 1 4. Totals: 22 11 62.
BRISTOL CENTRAL (56): Ella Watson 2 0 4. Brooke Watson 5 0 11, Kaley Laird 1 0 2, Ariana Rivera 5 1 11, Lillian Sirois 8 7 24, Callie Lodovico 2 0 4, Madison Pikell 0 0 0, Aaliyah Sirois 0 0 0. Totals: 23 8 56.
Three-point goals: Arel (G) 4, Ajla (G) 2, Alina Gutic (G), Brooke Watson (BC), L. Sirois (BC).
Records: Gilbert 6-0 overall; Bristol Central 0-5
