Nighthawks Hand New Fairfield First Loss

By Andy Hutchison

Newtown High School’s girls’ basketball team used a stingy defensive effort and patient offense to hold off New Fairfield in a 30-25 win on the road on Tuesday night. Newtown handed the Rebels their first loss, dropping their South-West Conference rivals to 6-1 and, in the process, put forth an effort that Coach Shawn O’Brien is hopeful will serve as a corner-turner for his team.

“It’s a win this team can build off of,” said O’Brien, whose Nighthawks had lost two in a row but improved to 4-3 overall thanks to a stalling technique on offense in Tuesday’s win.

The Nighthawks protected their lead by holding the ball for a combined six-or-so minutes during different stretches of the game. O’Brien said the strategy was implemented to take pressure off his defenders.

“It gives us a break on defense. We were working so hard defensively,” said O’Brien, adding that his players did a nice job to contest shots and close down the lane to the hoop.

Newtown may have scored a season-low point total, but that was a result of possessing the ball to eat time off the clock. And it equated to a win.

“You take them any way you can them against a 6-0 team,” O’Brien said.

Sara Kelley led the offense with 16 points, Nora Lynn Shimko and Jordyn Good both had 5, and Riley Wurtz added 4.

The coach said his players were much stronger on defense than they were in defeats to Brookfield and Pomperaug (the latter was a 62-41 setback on January 2).

“We should be able to run off some wins right now,” O’Brien said.

The Nighthawks have a newfound confidence but need to guard against a letdown or being surprised by a team with an inferior record to theirs. Just as Newtown beat a team that may have looked better on paper based on wins and losses, the Hawks could face challenges against upcoming opponents they arguably should beat.

Up next is a date January 9 at home against Joel Barlow (2-5), followed by another home game on Tuesday against Bethel (which started the season with five straight losses before earning a win). Newtown then visits Weston (2-3 heading into Friday’s action) on January 16.