In a battle of nine-win South-West Conference girls’ basketball rivals, host Newtown High School overcame an 11-point deficit to defeat Immaculate of Danbury 38-35 on January 23. The Nighthawks improved to 10-3 overall, and the Mustangs fell to 9-3.

The Nighthawks trailed 19-8 late in the second quarter, scored the final basket of the half, then the first four points of the third quarter to pull to within 19-14. The Hawks held Immaculate scoreless for nearly six minutes to begin the second half. Down 25-16, Newtown ran off eight straight points. In the final minute of the third, Lauren Wilcox converted a 3-point play and Kelly Merrick scored down low off a pass from Sarah Lynch to make it 25-21 after three quarters of play. Katie Reilly blocked a shot in the waning seconds of the period.

Wilcox opened the fourth-quarter scoring with a 3-pointer to close the gap, making it 25-24. The teams traded baskets, and Klorczyk drained another 3-pointer to again pull the Hawks to within a point, at 30-29, with 4:16 left. After a Mustang free throw, Klorczyk converted a 3-point play, giving Newtown its first lead since the opening quarter, 32-31, with 2:51 left.

The Mustangs responded to reclaim the lead 20 seconds later, but Newtown’s Olyvia Shaw got Newtown back in front, 34-33, when she took a pass from Klorczyk and scored down low with 2:13 remaining.

Following defensive rebound by Shaw, Newtown tacked on another couple points when Merrick hit a jumper with 57 seconds left. Lynch rebounded Immaculate’s miss on a bid to tie the game from downtown, and got the ball to Klorczyk who was fouled. Klorczyk calmly hit the front end of a one-and-one opportunity and added the second freebee to extend the lead to five with just nine seconds to go. The Mustangs scored in the final seconds but time ran out without Newtown having to inbound the ball.

Klorczyk led all scorers with 14 points, Merrick had ten, and Wilcox added eight. Klorczyk, Shaw, and Merrick all had four rebounds; Klorczyk added two steals, three assists, and one block; Merrick made four blocks; and Lynch dished out five assists.

Read more about the game in the January 30 print edition of The Bee.