BETHEL — Basketball can be a game of runs and the January 16 Newtown-Bethel contest, a rematch of last year’s South-West Conference girls’ basketball championship was a great example of this.

The visiting Newtown Nighthawks used a 26-0 run to blow the game open before holding off the Wildcats en route to a 53-37 victory.

Newtown, following a Tuesday, January 21 home game with Joel Barlow of Redding at 5 pm, will host unbeaten Notre Dame-Fairfield on Thursday, January 23, at 7 pm. Both Newtown and the Notre Dame Lancers are unbeaten in conference play in the early going — unscathed to this point having both survived challenges from another championship candidate, Pomperaug of Southbury. The Nighthawks are 8-1 overall, losing only to Bridgewater, Mass., and the Lancers are 8-0 all told, making for an intriguing matchup and a possible teaser of things to come when the playoffs roll around in late February.

Against the Wildcats, Newtown jumped out to an 8-0 lead but trailed 10-9 after one quarter of play. The Nighthawks were down by three points early in the second when they finished the half on an 18-0 run for a 27-12 lead at the break.

Amy Sapenter’s 3-pointer gave the Nighthawks a 14-12 lead with just under five minutes remaining in the second, and Newtown never looked back. The Hawks built on their lead with pressuring turnover-causing defense and scoring coming from down low as well as outside. Rebecca Alicea scored in close and followed with a 3-pointer for a 22-12 lead. Sapenter then sank a long-range field goal off a turnover and drained a 3-pointer to finish the half.

The Nighthawks began the third quarter with eight straight points and the huge run finished with a Cyleigh Wilson straightaway 3-pointer. Newtown saw its 23-point lead trimmed to 16 at 40-24 at the end of three periods. Bethel got the deficit all the way down to ten early in the final quarter, and whittled the Newtown lead to nine at 42-33 at the mid stages of the final stanza.

Wilson hit eight key free throws in the final quarter, and Shea Murphy made a pair of foul shots down the stretch, to keep the Wildcats multiple possessions in Newtown’s rear view mirror.

Newtown was led by Wilson with 15 points, Sapenter scored 13, Juliette Cryder had eight, and Carlie Smith had six.

“I’m really happy with how we did all the little things we needed to do to win. We’ve still got a lot of things to work on moving forward,” Newtown Coach Jeremy O’Connell said.