By Michael Letendre

BRISTOL – Since 2005, the Bristol Eastern girls basketball team has topped Bristol Central every time the squads took to the hardwood.

But on Saturday, January 22, the Rams flipped the script and behind a career-high 25 points from Lillian Sirois, Central upended the Lancers by a 55-42 final from the Charles C. Marsh Gymnasium.

Central’s last victory against Eastern came on February 16, 2004 when the Rams scooped up a 60-57 victory.

The Rams improved to 3-7 overall while the Lancers dropped to 3-5.

And while Central coach Steve Gaudet might have thought there was an eternity on the clock as Eastern made its late game run, his squad never lost focus when the pressure was at its highest – maintaining a double-figure cushion throughout the second half of play.

“I couldn’t be prouder of this team,” said Gaudet. “It’s been a rollercoaster of games [this season] we should have won early on. We got on a streak and I [said] we’re getting better. I knew this would come. We just had to get one.”

“And once we got one, it would start to build.”

Sirois was simply tremendous, making two-and-1’s while draining a three-pointer – getting fouled in the process for a four-point play – to make it an 18-point game early in the third quarter.

Along with Sirois’s 25, Ariana Rivera dropped in 10 of her 17 points over second half play – notching lay-up after lay-up and playing tremendous defense on Eastern star Ciara Collins.

“She didn’t come out once and the effort and the energy…I mean come on,” said Gaudet of Rivera.

Brooke Watson drained all nine of her points over first-half play while Ella Watson, Callie Lodovico, Maddy Pikiell, and Kaley Laird all played big minutes for the home team.

Eastern led early, got hot late but never put a complete game effort in.

“We just played a quarter-and-a-half of good basketball,’ said Eastern coach Tony Floyd. “And [Central] did a really god job. Lilly and Rivera, they did a good job. They carried that team and I thought they did a nice job out there.”

All the metrics were in Central’s favor as the program shot over 50-percent from the field, shooting minimal three-pointers, while the squad tallied eight steals defensively.

Eastern had balanced scoring but simply not enough of it to win the game.

Collins wrangled up 12 points, nine rebounds, and five steals, but was harassed and hounded by Central’s defense all afternoon long.

“She’s such a great player, we had to game plan to make others beat us,” said Gaudet. “She still got her points, believe me. She’s still a good player. They hit some big shots but we had to stay with it [defensively] and be consistent with it. Ariana Rivera, when we switched into something different, we went to the diamond-and-one [defense and] you can’t ask for more.”

“She didn’t come out of the game and she was working her tail off against one of the best players in the state.”

Taigan Parent sunk in 11 points while Vanessa Drury had her second straight double-figure scoring game – posting 10 points and adding six rebounds for the Lancers.

Janessa Gonzalez collected five points and three rebounds while Leah Roy came off the pine for four points and six boards.

Eastern’s offense struggled after starting the game by making 4-of-7 field goals and grabbing an 11-5 edge 2:58 into things.

From there, Central used a 37-8 run to snare a 42-19 cushion with 3:11 left to play in the third quarter as the Lancers’ offense went south in a hurry.

After that hot offensive start, Eastern missed 44-of-54 attempts to end the game – shooting 23-percent overall.

Parent hit an early 3 while Drury flipped in two trifectas as Eastern nabbed that 11-5 push before finishing the half on 1-of-19 shooting from the field.

Off two free throws by Collins, Sirois tied the game with a jumper and when Brooke Watson slipped in a lay-up with 1:12 left in the first, Central took a 15-13 lead and never trailed again.

Two free throws by Roy chopped the deficit to 18-15 after eight eventful minutes.

The bottom fell out on Eastern in the second stanza as Collins scored four points but no one else dropped in a single point as Central’s defense took over.

To open the quarter, Central went on a 12-0 run as Sirois hit a bucket, Ella Watson canned a 3, Brooke Watson made a turnaround, Sirois dropped in a three-point play and when Rivera dumped in two free throws with 5:22 left in the first half, the home team led 30-15.

Eastern’s defense allowed Central just one point the remainder of the stanza but at the break, the Kingstreeters hit just 19-percent of its hoops and trailed 31-19.

“In the first quarter, we didn’t ’t do well. We went cold,” said Floyd. “In the second quarter, in the second half of it, the last four minutes, we started to get [something] going.”

Sirois opened the third with five straight points, Lodovico hit a foul shot and two consecutive hoops from Rivera gave the Rams a 42-19 edge with 3:11 showing on the clock.

Parent hit a 3 and then Drury canned a jumper to end the third for Eastern but a five-point period – and nine total points between the second and third quarters – saw Central etch up an imposing 47-24 tally with eight minutes remaining in the game.

“In the third quarter, we needed to come back out right away and do stuff [but] we still were puttering,” said Floyd. “At the end of the third quarter, we started doing a better job moving the ball and getting shots, the ball started falling and we got some second and third shots in the third and fourth quarters.”

“Our pressure started taking a toll on them a little bit.”

Eastern refused to yield as a 10-2 run chopped the deficit to 49-34 with 4:27 left as the Lancers forced 10 fourth period turnovers.

But back-to-back lay-ups from Rivera and Sirois made it a 19-point game with 4:00 remaining.

A mini 6-0 run, highlighted by back-to-back hoops from Collins, got Eastern within 13 with 2:44 left but the Lancers couldn’t cut the deficit any further.

Central ran some clock late, Sirois added one final hoop for her career-high and on one last lay-up by Parent, the Rams held on for a tremendous 55-42 win.

“I just thought We didn’t play good defense,” said Floyd. “It wasn’t just missing shots. We didn’t play good defense, we didn’t communicate and talk and didn’t play like we usually can play defensively. You can do all you can offensively and not make shots, but we didn’t play any defense. You don’t give [Central] 30 points in the first half so that was a lot of points I thought for us.”

On the flip side, it was a program defining victory as Central is on a three-game hot streak.

“This team believes,” said Gaudet. “And they fight and they trust each other. It was an excellent team effort tonight.”

BRISTOL CENTRAL55, BRISTOL EASTERN 42

from the Charles C. Marsh Gymnasium, Bristol

Bristol Eastern (3-5)15 4 5 18 – 42

Bristol Central (3-7)18 13 16 8 – 55

BRISTOL EASTERN (42):Taigan Parent 4 0 11, Vanessa Drury 4, 0 10 Emily Piendak 0 0 0, Ciara Collins 4 4 12, Leah Roy 1 2 4, Janessa Gonzalez 1 3 5, Lauren Ayotte 0 0 0, Tavia Swain 0 0 0. Totals:14 9 42.

BRISTOL CENTRAL (55): Ella Watson 1 0 3, Brooke Watson 3 3 9, Kaley Laird 0 0 0, Lillian Sirois 10 4 25, Callie Lodovico 0 1 1, Madison Pikell 0 0 0, Ariana Rivera 7 3 17. Totals: 21 11 55.

Three-point goals: Taigan Parent (BE) 3, Vanessa Drury (BE) 2, Ella Watson (BC), Lillian Sirois (BC).

Records: Bristol Eastern 3-5 overall; Bristol Central 3-7