Defense and depth have been the biggest keys to the success of Newtown High School’s girls’ basketball team.

And the two go hand-in-hand. When the Nighthawks are clicking defensively, that sparks the fast-break offense. Newtown often applies a full-court press. If the Hawks don’t force a turnover, they hustle back and look to get a stop and beat the opponent in transition. This uptempo style of play — with and without the ball — necessitates significant contributions off the bench, and that’s exactly what NHS Coach Jeremy O’Connell and his team have gotten en route to going 14-2 overall and 8-1 in South-West Conference play heading into Thursday’s tilt with visiting New Milford at 6:15 pm.

“It dictates how we go. When we transition well, it predicates our offense, which we want to do to be successful,” Newtown Coach Jeremy O’Connell said.

Newtown defeated visiting Stratford 58-30 on January 24, marking the fourth time the Hawks held their opponent to 30 points. In two prior games, NHS held the opposition to 29 and 31 points. Newtown followed up the win over Stratford with a 63-37 victory at Carmel, N.Y., two days later, then bested host Immaculate of Danbury 60-25 on January 28.

In the triumph over Stratford, the Hawks compiled 43 deflections, with 15 players logging at least one. It’s not the most flashy of statistics, but a meaningful bit of record-keeping for O’Connell and company.

“We want to force turnovers off of good defensive pressure, get deflections, rush shots,” O’Connell said.

Jackie Matthews and Juliette Cryder each had five of those deflections, and Cailin Wilson contributed four. Newtown’s depth allows it to push the tempo basically for the full 32 minutes.

The idea is that while teams may be able to stick with the Hawks for a half or more, they might run out of steam in the third or fourth quarter, O’Connell said.

“That’s when we’re still pushing, and the other teams that can only go five, six, seven deep are tired,” Newtown’s coach added.

“We pride ourselves on our defense because that’s what gets us our play on the offensive end,” said Matthews, who regularly is assigned to mark opposing team’s top scoring threats with assistance from her teammates.

“The whole team feeds off it,” O’Connell said of Matthews’ stalwart defensive play. Newtown was handed its first loss within South-West Conference and state play when Notre Dame-Fairfield posted a 61-53 victory on January 18. That game followed up a 56-53 NHS win at Joel Barlow of Redding three days prior. Surrendering that many points, even though it was against formidable foes, led to the Nighthawks picking up the defensive pace in their practice preparations.

“Our focus this week was all about getting back to what are, and that’s a great defensive team,” said O’Connell, whose team got back on track with a more Newtown-like stingy defensive showing in a 50-29 victory at Brookfield on January 22.

A dozen Nighthawk girls got on the score sheet against Stratford, led by 13 from Wilson and ten from Nicki DaPra. Amy Sapenter grabbed six rebounds. The Hawks registered eight steals, led by two apiece from Wilson and DaPra. Shannon Kelleher recorded her first varsity basket, getting a rise from the bench when she sank her third-quarter 3-pointer.

In the win at Carmel, DaPra logged six points and four assists and grabbed ten rebounds; Shea Murphy and Wilson 13 points each; and Emma Magazu notched seven points, five rebounds, two assists, and two steals. In the Immaculate game, Carlie Smith led the way with 14 points; Cryder, Sarah Nowacki, and Wilson poured in eight points apiece; and Cyleigh Wilson and Rebecca Alicea both had five assists.

Newtown, following the New Milford game, will visit Masuk of Monroe on Wednesday, February 7, beginning at 7 pm.