BE girls lose to Northwest Catholic in final minute heartbreaker, 49-48

Basketball

Posted By: Jack Krampitz January 28, 2024

BRISTOL – The Bristol Eastern girls basketball team dropped a heartbreaking 49-48 decision to Northwest Catholic on Friday night, falling to 11-4 overall in a CCC interdivisional showdown.

The Lions improved to 11-3 but had to fight to the very end as the game was all tied up at 48-48 with 9.1 seconds to play.

On the inbounds by Northwest, Eastern fouled Maeve Staunton seconds later as she canned the game-winning free throw.

While she missed the second attempt, teammate Maeve Rushin (six points), daughter of former UConn women’s basketball star Rebecca Lobo, grabbed an offensive rebound and the Lancers never got the ball back again.

Eastern’s Autumn Udoh netted a game-high 22 points, Savannah Drury scored 11, Amanda Noel added six while Vanessa Drury, Leah Roy and Lauren Ayotte all flipped in three points apiece.

“Hey, they played really well,” Eastern coach Tony Floyd of his squad. “Vanessa was hurt and I thought Savannah and Cassie and Leah did a really good job out there without her. I was very pleased about that. I thought Autumn stepped her game up and the really big thing is Noel stepped her game up and started playing the way she’s capable of playing which really helped us out a lot.”

Eastern led 11-9 through one period and the teams settled on a 23-23 stalemate at the half.

Northwest captured a 36-35 edge through three quarters but Eastern held the lead late before big stops by the Lions foiled the Lancers in the end.

Staunton scored 15 points while Abby Casper added 13 for Northwest.

The Lancers travel to Plainville on Monday for 6:00 contest.

Northwest Catholic   49      Bristol Eastern  48

NORTHWEST CATHOLIC (11-3):   Maeve Rushin  2  2  6,  Lily Pare  3  2  9,  Maeve Staunton  6  3  15, Liv Knorr 0  0 0,  Zoey Canning  2  2  6, Susanna Schaub 0  0  0,  Abby Casper  5  1  13.  Totals:  18   10   49.

BRISTOL EASTERN (11-4):  Vanessa Drury  1  0  3, Cassie Sward 0  0  0,  Leah Roy  1  0  3,  Amanda Noel  1  4  6,  Lauren Ayotte  1  1  3,  Savannah  Drury  4  2  11,  Autumn Udoh 9  2  22.  Totals:  17   9   48. 

Northwest Catholic:   9    14    13    13    – – – –  49                                                                         
Bristol  Eastern:        11   12     12    13   — – –  48

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