Newtown High School's girls' basketball team fell 61-53 at Notre Dame-Fairfield on January 18 and won 50-29 at Brookfield on January 22.

Going into the Notre Dame game, the Newtown Nighthawks and Lancers were tied with the best record in the South-Wes Conference, both 5-0, with 10-1 overall records.

Given that both teams are atop the SWC, the game was expected to be close and from tip-off, it was just that early on. After one quarter of play, the game was tied at 16 with Newtown led by scoring from Amy Sapenter, Cyleigh Wilson, and Carlie Smith.

The back and forth play continued for the first few minutes of the second, but Notre Dame began to pull ahead with about four minutes left, prompting the Hawks to call a timeout. With 3:03 left in the half Shea Murphy knocked down a 3-pointer, making the score 24-21. This three was followed by another Notre Dame bucket, as well as a pair of free throws by Sapenter and another by Nicki DaPra. These free throws were the last scores of the half for Newtown, as the Hawks headed into the second half down 31-24.

Entering the third quarter, Notre Dame looked to be pulling away, but Newtown stayed strong. With just over two minutes left in the quarter, Emma Magazu scored, igniting what would become a 6-2 run to close out the quarter. This run, as well as a strong defensive performance led by Jackie Matthews served as a preview of the resiliency to come from Newtown, which trailed by 12 heading into the final quarter. With a little more than five minutes left in the fourth quarter, the Hawks called a timeout down 54-34. Coming out of this timeout, Newtown began its bid at a comeback. With 3:04 left in the game, DaPra scored two more free throws, followed up by an and-one converted by Rebecca Alicea.

Murphy came up with a steal and outlet pass to Magazu who drew the foul to get to the free throw line. Magazu made one foul shot and later hit a 3-pointer. Seconds later, Murphy scored four points with a basket and two foul shots, on on a technical foul, pulling the Hawks to within 58-49 with 1:06 left. Magazu drew a foul and knocked down both free throws, bringing Newtown within 58-51 with 1:01 to play, but the stellar comeback attempt was held short.

“I’m very proud of the effort and intensity. It could have been easy to quit, but we didn’t,” Head Coach Jeremy O’Connell said.

Newtown spread the ball around and provided scoring opportunities throughout the lineup. Murphy led with nine points, and DaPra, Alicea, and Smith each had eight. Magazu scored seven points, Wilson had five, and Amy Sapenter and Matthews both added four. Additionally, the Hawks shot lights out from the free throw line, making 15 of 17 attempts.

Mistakes proved costly.

“We had too many unforced errors the entire game. Hopefully this is a great learning opportunity,” O’Connell said.

Newtown bounced back against Brookfield in what O'Connell said was a strong defensive effort. Matthews and teammates limited Brookfield 1,000-point scorer Bailey Drapola to just four. Wilson and Sapenter scored 11 each, and DaPra had eight points, five assists, and five rebounds.