Newtown High School's girls' basketball team won two home games in as many days, defeating Immaculate of Danbury, 39-29, on January 20, and toppling Lauralton Hall of Milford, 47-32 the next afternoon.

The Nighthawks, with their win over Immaculate, picked up their eighth victory of the campaign to clinch a state playoff berth. Newtown improved to 9-4 overall with the win over Lauralton.

Against Immaculate, the Hawks jumped out to a 28-11 halftime lead. When all was said and done, eight Nighthawks registered points, led by nine apiece from Erin Burns and Nicki DaPra, the latter of whom logged a trio of 3-point baskets.

Rylee Mulligan dropped in five points and Jackie Matthews and Kira Smith both tacked on four. Cailin Wilson, Greta Staubly, and Alison Kelleher chipped in with three, two, and one, respectively.

Against Lauralton, the Hawks trailed by a point in the waning moments of the second quarter, but seized the halftime lead, 17-16, on a Jackie Matthews hoop with 25 seconds remaining.

Newtown opened the third quarter with five unanswered points. Lauralton's first and only field goal of the third came with 2:15 left in the stanza. Cyleigh Wilson answered with a fast-break hoop, for a 24-20 lead, sparking a 9-0 run to close out the third quarter.

Staubly scored following a nice back-door bounce pass from Mulligan to make it 26-20, Cyleigh Wilson drained a shot from downtown, and Matthews came away with a steal and layup to make it 31-20 heading to the fourth.

Burns converted a 3-point play the old fashioned way, scoring a basket and tacking on a foul shot, and Wilson hit another one from behind the arc to help the Hawks seize a 37-25 advantage.

Lauralton got it back to single digits, at 37-29, with just over four minutes remaining, but the Hawks went on a 10-0 run, highlighted by 3-pointers from Cyleigh Wilson and Mulligan, to put the game away.

Once again, Newtown had eight players record points. Cyleigh Wilson led the way with 13, nine of which came on a trio of 3-pointers, and Mulligan and Matthews had eight and seven, respectively.

Olyvia Shaw and Burns both scored five, DaPra had four, Cailin Wilson had three on her basket from long range, and Staubly added two.

Matthews pulled down nine rebounds and a pair of steals, Shaw had seven rebounds and two assists, Burns had six rebounds, Staubly and DaPra both had five rebounds, Kira Smith grabbed four boards, and Mulligan dished out five assists and had a couple of steals.

"We still have not put 32 minutes together but we're doing a good enough in our 16 minutes, or 20 minutes, or 24 minutes that we play to be successful," Newtown Coach Jeremy O'Connell said.

The Nighthawks have several freshmen and sophomores who see regular playing time, and the coach is happy with the progress these new-to-varsity athletes are progressing.

"The young kids are starting to get into the varsity level," O'Connell said.

O'Connell is able to get about 10-12 players onto the court on a given night because of the abilities of his players across the board, allowing Newtown to push the tempo and substitute players frequently.

"We are deep," he said.

The Hawks will host Bunnell of Stratford, the squad O'Connell previously coached, on Tuesday, January 24, beginning at 7 pm.