A tough bunch of games in a row have challenged the Newtown High School girls’ basketball team. Following a 33-25 win at Joel Barlow of Redding, which Newtown Coach Jeremy O’Connell describes as one of the toughest gyms to play a game against an always well-coached squad on January 7, the Nighthawks hosted Pomperaug of Southbury and lost 54-36 on January 9. Then came a 43-23 loss at Norwich Free Academy on January 11. The every-other-day tough test continued with a 38-34 setback at Masuk of Monroe on January 13

Against Pomperaug the Nighthawks battled back from large deficits to make a game of it but could not overcome a combination of its own turnovers and the visiting Panthers’ quickness. Pomperaug led just 12-11 after one quarter but outscored the Hawks 19-4 in the second to seize a commanding 31-15 halftime lead. There were five consecutive possessions — be them off inbound passes or rebounds — in which the Panthers forced turnovers before the Hawks could cross half court as part of that second-quarter pull away. The Nighthawks limited the Panthers to seven points off those turnovers but went the last five minutes of the half without a point.

Newtown showed some fight to begin the second half. Mo Murphy hit a 3-pointer and Ava Rochester’s steal and end-to-end run to the basket quickly got the deficit down to 11. Newtown’s defense was strong to begin the half, holding Pomperaug without a point for more than four minutes out of the break. Sam Diaspro’s 3-pointer made it 31-23 at the mid point of the stanza and all of sudden it was a game again.

The Hawk defense forced a turnover with Rochester getting a takeaway, but the Panthers made a defensive stand and hit a 3 at the other end of the court. The Panthers went ahead 42-30 going to the fourth.

Rochester’s cut to the basket produced two points to start the fourth-quarter scoring. After the Panthers extended the lead to 15 Diaspro’s step-back, long-range 2 made it 47-34 with 5:05 left. A Diaspro 3-pointer, just after the whistle, was waived off due to an offensive foul and Pomperaug hit a 3-pointer on its next possession, with 4:09 left — a quick six-point swing that, for all intents and purposes, put the game out of reach.

Diaspro finished with 15 points, Rochester had six, and Cassie Pickering four. The Panthers had stifling defense and quickness that allowed them to get to loose balls and limit Newtown’s chances. The Hawks, however, hurt themselves with some turnovers.

“We lost our composure. We’re an inexperienced varsity team and we’re going to take some lumps at this stage in the game,” said O’Connell, adding that he was hopeful his team could find a way to bounce back amid this difficult stretch of games.

A matchup with tough Norwich Free, which toppled Pomperaug by 40 points, was no way for the Hawks to bounce back. The Masuk game appeared to be the cure all with Newtown building a 28-28 halftime lead only to be stymied in the second half. Rochester led the Hawks with 13 points, Addy Cordova scored ten, and Ana Morris added eight.

Newtown fell to 4-5 overall and 2-2 in South-West Conference play. Following Thursday’s home game with Bunnell of Stratford the Hawks will entertain Ridgewood High of New Jersey on Saturday, January 18 at 12:45 pm.

For the Pomperaug contest the Hawks wore special pink jerseys and raised funds to support the Kay Yow Cancer Fund, in honor of the former North Carolina State University basketball coach who battled breast cancer for 22 years before passing away in 2009.

Sports Editor Andy Hutchison can be reached at andyh@thebee.com.