Fourth in a four-part series on BEHS girls basketball championship teams under coach Tony Floyd
By Michael Letendre
The CIAC held its annual basketball championships this past weekend from Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville and all those title games brought back memories of the Bristol Eastern girls squad winning it all over the years.
After taking home the Class LL title in 1989-90, the Kingstreeters weren’t done.
Neither was Southington as the CCC South rivals battled out in the title game for the second consecutive year in 1990-91.
So, how did the season go for the Lancers on their way to another title tilt?
Here’s a look at that special squad, the last girls basketball team at BEHS to win a state championship.
The 1990-91 season — back-to-back — championships
Things were different in 1990-91 for the Lancers, but Ginny Ziogas, now a senior, was still in the mix.
Helen Pikiell along with Christa Grzywinski, Mead and Pomerenke made up the starting unit that went 23-2 and beat Southington one more time in the finals.
“I have to give them a lot of credit,” said Floyd. “To win back-to-back is very hard. They won the first year and they came back and did it again. It showed the perseverance, the belief and the drive that they had.”
The season started on Dec. 6, 1990, with Eastern bottling St. Paul over at the gymnasium on Maltby Street and the demolition occurred from the start.
The Falcons netted just two first period points as the Lancers rolled to a 71-29 win.
Ziogas and Pikiell each pumped in 17 points while Pomerenke hit for 14 as Eastern was off and running.
The Lancers rolled out 11 straight wins before suffering a 56-47 setback to Southington on January 21 from the Thomas M. Monahan Gymnasium in Bristol.
Eastern trailed 42-29 through three completed frames and never recovered.
Ziogas and Pomerenke each scored 12 points, Pikiell added 11 while Kim Setter hit for six off the pine.
Four days later, Eastern was off on another winning streak as the Lancers snuck by Bristol Central, 53-49.
The Rams trailed by eight points going into the final stanza as Nicole Walker zipped up 21 points in a competitive showdown between the crosstown rivals.
Ziogas scored 17 points, Pikiell dropped in 13 while Pomerenke added 11.
But then on Jan. 31, Eastern fell again to Southington, despite a 23-point effort from Ziogas.
The Knights hung on defeat the Lancers 48-46 as the Kingstreeters slipped to 12-2 and 6-2 in CCC South play.
But the Lancers quickly rolled out 11 straight wins to snare the Class LL championship as the only team to beat Eastern that season was Southington.
Pomerenke blasted New Britain for 26 points on Feb. 7 in Eastern’s 75-49 thrashing of the Hurricanes while the rematch between the Lancers and Rams was another close one.
Pomerenke flipped in 14 points, Ziogas, Grzywinski and Pikiell all scored 10 while Setter hit for nine as Eastern held off Central, 55-48.
Walker dropped 19 points on Eastern while Stacey Porrini, a sophomore center who was already in the starting lineup for head coach Gary Fleming, scored 10 points over the final three quarters of the showdown.
Central (12-8 overall, 7-7 CCC South) led 29-23 at the half, then absorbed a 41-41 stalemate through three quarters.
The Lancers outscoring the Rams 14-7 over the final eight minutes of action as Eastern won 55-48.
The 1991 Class LL tournament commenced on February 26 with Eastern ranked No. 5 in the field while Southington was on the flip side of the bracket, rated third after a tremendous 19-1 campaign.
The Lancers belted No. 28 Newton, 73-43, in the opening round as Ziogas notched 30 points while Pomerenke hit for 14.
And then in second round action against No. 12 Simsbury two days later, Ziogas jammed home 29 points while blocking three shots in leading Eastern to a 65-48 triumph.
Pomerenke added 16 points and eight rebounds while Pikiell dropped in 10 points as Eastern was off to the quarterfinals.
No. 13 Greenwich made it to the field of eight but the contest against Eastern on March 2 went as expected from Foran High School in Milford.
The Lancers were easy 64-39 winners as Ziogas and Pomerenke were the leading scorers once again.
Ziogas scorched the Cardinals for 24 points, Pomerenke added 16 points and four assists while Pikiell added nine points, seven assists and four steals.
Nicole Vitrano added five points and collected seven rebounds for the Lancers.
Eastern freshmen Tricia Tycz and Jessica Byrnes both saw minutes over the winning onslaught.
Not lost in the victorious effort was Floyd’s 200th career win which he had tripled by 2023.
No. 9 Staples (21-5) was on the docket for Eastern in semifinal play from Sheehan High School on March 6.
Staples led by 10 (19-9) after one period before Eastern outscored the squad 70-53 the rest of the way to make it back to the final round over a 79-71 final.
Ziogas flipped in 24 points over the last 24 minutes of regulation and Pomerenke (24) scored 14 in the third period alone while scooping in seven rebounds.
Pikiell aided the cause with 14 points, Setter hit for her usual six points and Lisa Drzewiecki added four.
Mead and Ziogas hit late free throws to ice the showdown.
The win set up Eastern (22-2) against Southington in a finals rematch from the previous year from Kaiser Gymnasium at Central Connecticut State University.
The showdown on March 9, 1991, went back and forth as expected.
The Knights led 14-10 through one and carried a 22-16 edge into the halftime break.
Eastern’s defense limited Southington to just six third quarter points and going into the fourth and final quarter, it was a 28-28 stalemate.
And the Lancers’ entire starting lineup came through on both sides of the ball over the final period with Pikiell and Mead scoring four points apiece as Eastern held on to snare a huge 44-38 win — winning its fourth state title over a nine-year stretch and third in five seasons.
Ziogas scored 13 points while Mead — the game’s MVP — scored 10 second-half points to ice the event.
Pomerenke added seven points and 10 rebounds for the state champs.
Eastern ended the season as the state’s No. 1 team at 23-2 and was a well-deserved honor off the title victory.
“All those girls from that team are successful in life right now,” said Floyd. “It just shows how good they were. It was just a matter of the tradition they honored that was set by Chryss Watts and that first [title] group. And it just carried on and on.”
Ziogas scored 24.6 points-per-game during tournament play and won of ton of postseason honors.
She earned the Connecticut Gatorade High School Girls Basketball Player of the Year and also took home All-State First Team honors.
Ziogas ended her scholastic career with 1,134 points.
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