Staff photo / Brian Yauger Maplewood sophomore Aliah Brumit puts up a shot during the first half of Thursday’s game against Bristol in Bristolville.

BRISTOLVILLE — January is when league races start to get serious.

Both Bristol and Maplewood, each leading its respective side of the Northeastern Athletic Conference (NAC), wanted to further cement their stake of the league. A win would do just that.

In a potential preview of the NAC championship game, the Rockets took control of the game early and didn’t let up, downing Bristol 50-16.

“They played hard tonight, and they had fun doing it,” Maplewood coach Stephanie Pykare said. “It’s always encouraging to see when they can relax after the first four or five minutes of the game and just kind of find a rhythm. I’m super proud of them. It was a big game for us and Bristol. (We’re on top of our side of the league and they’re on top of their side of the league), so it was big for us to come in and really try and control our own destiny after tonight.”

For the Rockets, it started from the opening tip. A quick 8-0 lead quickly grew, and Maplewood never relented.

Bristol’s defense was aggressive early, but it felt like no matter what coverage they threw at the Rockets, Maplewood had an answer.

“We had prepared a lot for their zone defenses. They shift really well, and they’re very aggressive and work really hard,” Pykare said of Bristol’s defense. “So we told them, ‘You’re gonna have to do all the little things, and ball fake. Move the ball around.’ We struggled a little bit, but really, things started to open up the more we got settled in.”

Junior Lauran Krieg led the way with 15 points and freshman Claire Urchek tacked on 11.

Leading on the scoresheet for Bristol was senior Peyton Gall with 8 points.

While the score isn’t what the Panthers (7-6) were after. Coach Randall Ward doesn’t want to overreact over one loss.

Sometimes, it’s just not your night.

“They made shots,” Ward said. “They have good sets. They did take advantage of our mistakes. So the times that we didn’t communicate, they made us pay for it.

“All our goals are still there. On our side of the tier, we’re still in first place. All of our goals are attainable for us. We’ll get back to work tomorrow, and get better. We’ve just got to continue to get better.”

They look to rebound against Mathews on the road on Monday.

Maplewood (10-1) travels to Windham on Thursday for another league battle.

“Now we move into more of our NAC schedule,” Pykare said. “We’ve got to keep taking it one game at a time, though. Because you never know, anything can happen.”