WALCOTT — The Connecticut State Basketball Holiday Tournament is in full swing this week with several local area teams advancing to the holiday finals.
Bristol Eastern Boys defeated Bristol Central in the semi-finals to advance to the Bristol Central Holiday Classic finals for the second year in a row. The Bristol Central girls basketball team, which defeated the Platte Panthers in the tournament semifinals, will also play in the tournament championship game on Friday.
The St. Paul Falcons women’s basketball team defeated Wilton in the Pomperaug Holiday Tournament to win the tournament and face Glastonbury, and the Bristol Eastern women’s basketball team also defeated Southington in the Wolcott Christmas Tournament to advance to the finals.
The Lancers defeated Southington 51-46, led by Autumn Udoh, who scored 12 of her game-high 22 points in the second quarter. Udoh was Bristol Eastern’s leading scorer in four of their five games, averaging 23 points in those games.
Senior Vanessa Drury also contributed to a strong second half, getting to the basket and making several key 3-pointers, including one in the fourth quarter that sealed the Lancers’ victory.
Drury scored nine of his 11 total points in the second half.
With the win, Bristol Eastern improves to 5-0 and will face Watertown in the holiday tournament. In the other semifinal game, Watertown defeated Wolcott 65-43.
For Southington, the Blue Knights played well, keeping pace with the Lancers despite going into halftime down by three points. The Blue Knights outscored the Lancers 12-11 in the third quarter, but fell behind 15-12 in the fourth.
Southington’s Lily Cooper led the team with 22 points and eight rebounds, followed by Hannah Blanchard with four rebounds and nine points. The team totaled 19 rebounds and 4 assists.
The loss to Southington drops the Blue Knights’ record to 1-4 this season, with their only win coming in the season opener against Middletown. The Blue Knights lost to Bristol Eastern, Conard, Windsor and Glastonbury.
Southington will play Walcott to close out the holiday tournament before returning to regular-season play against Stanford on Saturday. Stanford is currently 4-1.
Bristol Eastern, on the other hand, will look to win the Holiday Tournament Championship before returning to the regular season Saturday against Berlin. Berlin is now 4-0 with wins over New Britain, South Windsor, Plainville and Rocky Hill.