By Kim J. Harmon

STRATFORD '" Clutch.

Despite being a young team '" six of the top nine players on the court are sophomores and two are juniors '" the Lady Nighthawks once again displayed a remarkable coolness under pressure with a tight, 52-46, win over Bunnell on Tuesday.

It has happened before in the 1999-2000 season (wins over Kolbe-Cathedral and Masuk come to mind) and it happened again this week. After seeing a 10-point halftime lead get trimmed to just four with three minutes left to play, the '˜Hawks held off the Lady Bulldogs by scoring all 11 of their fourth-quarter points from the foul line.

The '˜Hawks were 18-of-26 from the line (69 percent) for the game, which was pretty good in itself, but like at Notre Dame a few weeks ago (the girls were 12-of-13 from the foul line in the final eight minutes in a game that ended up being too close for comfort) the '˜Hawks took care of business at the stripe.

Lori Iwanicki, who scored nine points on the night, was 7-of-8 from the line for the game. She also added nine rebounds to her effort. Ally Gellert led all scorers with 16 points (she was 4-of-7 from the foul line for the game) while Kate Ryan had nine points and six assists and Lisa Masella had eight points.

The win boosted the Lady Nighthawks' record to 14-2 overall, 11-1 in the South-West Conference.

Slow Start, Fast Finish

Playing in front of one of their largest crowds of the season last Friday night (it was Biddy Night, free admission for the youngest of the youth basketball players), the Lady Nighthawks got off to an unusually slow start against Immaculate.

They quickly heated up, though, and finished with a 65-27 win.

Falling into an early 4-2 hole, the '˜Hawks went on an 11-0 run into the second period that got the offense moving and the team on the way to its 13th win of the season. Iwanicki sparked the surge with eight first-half points (she finished with 10 for the game).

An 11-4 first-period lead burgeoned to 21-8 late in the second period before the Lady Mustangs made a little comeback with six straight points at the foul line. Lauren Adamek stopped the bleeding however with a fast-break basket off a feed from Iwanicki, giving Newtown a 23-14 halftime lead.

That lead exploded to 46-21 by the close of the third period as the Newtown offense unleashed a relentless attack. Jayme Beckham scored eight points in the 23-point third period with Masella adding five, and Gellert four.

The offense did little to ease the pressure on Immaculate in the fourth quarter, putting up another 19 points. Mary Bell scored seven points in the frame and Adamek chipped in with four. Freshman Jessica Phillips, in just her second game, scored the first varsity basket of her career with about 3:30 left to play.

Beckham finished with 11 points while Adamek and Iwanicki added 10 apiece.

NOTE: To illustrate the balanced offense of the Nighthawks, all nine players (not counting the freshmen) have scored in double figures at least once this season. Most have done it several times.

IMMACULATE 4   10    7    6 - 27

NEWTOWN   11   12   23   19 - 65

IMMACULATE (27): McEwan 1 2-3 4, Fassano 1 3-4 5, Northrup 0 0-2 0, Brady 2 0-0 4, Shanley 1 4-5 6, Kleis 0 0-0 0, Knapp 0 0-0 0, Christy 0 2-2 2, Roos 0 0-0 0, DeJulio 2 2-4 6, Ke. Brady 0 0-0 0, Keller 0 0-0 0. Totals: 7 13-20 27.

NEWTOWN (65): Beckham 3 5-9 11, Ryan 2 2-4 6, Masella 2 3-4 7, Gellert 2 2-3 6, Haines 2 0-0 4, Iwanicki 5 0-0 10, Adamek 2 6-8 10, Bell 3 3-6 9, Kohn 0 0-0 0, Phillips 1 0-0 2. Totals: 22 21-34 65.

Three-pointers: none

NEWTOWN   11   18   12   11 - 52

BUNNELL       6   13   13   14 - 46

 

NEWTOWN (52): Beckham 0 2-2 2, Ryan 4 1-3 9, Masella 3 2-2 8, Gellert 6 4-7 16, Haines 2 2-4 6, Iwanicki 1 7-8 9, Adamek 1 0-0 2, Bell 0 0-0 0. Totals: 17 18-26 52.

BUNNELL (46): Thornbury 6 0-2 13, Peterson 2 10-12 15, Bajda 1 3-4 5, Walker 1 0-0 2, A. Badja 3 1-2 7, McNiff 0 0-0 0, Mikan 1 0-0 2, Hovan 1 0-0 2. Totals: 15 14-19 46.

Three-pointers: Thornbury (B), Peterson (B)

 

Jayvee

In recent action, the Junior Varsity Nighthawks came up on the short end of a 31-21 score to New Fairfield and then followed up with wins over Notre Dame (32-26), New Milford (41-32), and Masuk (36-29).

In the loss to New Fairfield, numerous turnovers did the Lady Nighthawks in. Shannon Kohn led the way with four rebounds and five steals while Monica Zigman had three rebounds and a pair of steals. Jessica Phillips, meanwhile, came up with five rebounds, three steals and a blocked shot. Erin Saunders contributed four rebounds and a steal.

Against Notre Dame, the '˜Hawks struggled for the six point win and could point to their sloppiness with the ball as the reason.

'The amount of turnovers is what hampered our offense,' said coach Cynthia Klebon. 'This is not what we worked so hard for.'

Kohn led the way with 10 points, the only Newtown player in double figures. Phillips '" who shot 50 percent from the floor and from the line '" had 10 rebounds, two blocks and two steals to spark the defense.

Against New Milford, the '˜Hawks had to work with a depleted lineup in order to win. With Kohn out sick because of the flu, Caitlin Martin was asked to take the team to next level and turned in the finest game of her career.

Martin controlled the offensive end of the floor, pumping in 23 points (7-of-12 from the floor, 9-of-10 from the free throw line) and dishing out three assists. Phillips and Saunders chipped in with six points apiece.

Phillips was 4-for-4 from the line and pulled down nine rebounds while recording two steals and four blocks.

Monica Cluff contributed four points while Christine Manfredonia added two.

Against Masuk, Phillips and Kohn scored 11 points apiece to power the offense with Phillips shooting 3-for-4 from the line, grabbing eight rebounds, and blocking two shots. Kohn finished with three rebounds, four steals, and four assists.

'During the second half, we allowed them to come back and narrow the score,' said coach Klebon. 'Towards the end, patience was the one thing we needed to focus on and, in this case, it helped us pull out the win.'

Manfredonia, Saunders and Martin all tossed in four points apiece and Cluff dropped one in herself.