The Newtown High School girls’ basketball team pushed its winning streak up to eight games with victories over Masuk of Monroe and Stratford. The Nighthawks defeated the Masuk Panthers 31-19 at NHS on January 28 by gaining an early lead and maintaining it. The Nighthawks won over Stratford on the road 34-16 on January 31.

This pair of wins came after victories against Brookfield, Kolbe Cathedral of Bridgeport, Bethel, Immaculate of Danbury, Norwich Free Academy, and Weston all in the span of 13 days.

Against Masuk, the Nighthawks jumped to an early lead with a 7-0 start.

“Going into the game we knew Masuk would be athletic and aggressive so we used this to our advantage,” senior captain Molly McCleary said.

The Nighthawks brought a high level of intensity to counter Masuk’s style and it paid off. “We knew to make our passes better and focus on rebounding,” McCleary added.

The Nighthawks maintained a lead throughout the game and held its opponent to 20 or fewer points for the third straight game.

“We were able to stay composed at the end to win,” McCleary said.

Freshman Jenna Lagan had a career high ten points. Allie Bradley grabbed eight rebounds and put up six points of her own. Macey Cuomo had five assists as well.

Newtown’s win over Stratford marked another in which the Hawks held their opponent in the teens; the Hawks defeated Norwich Free Academy 37-17 during the winning streak and beat Darien 38-18 earlier this season.

Against Stratford, Bella Gerace scored 17 points; Chloe O’Connell had five points, seven rebounds, and five steals; Bradley had five points, four rebounds, and two assists; and Cuomo had five rebounds, four steals, and four assists.

Newtown improved to 12-3 overall and 8-1 in South-West Conference play.

“We have had a good season so far, with a lot of tough wins, and are excited to go into the SWC tournament as hopefully the 1 or 2 seed,” senior captain Chloe O’Connell said.

Newtown and New Fairfield both entered into the final week-plus of the regular season with the second-best record in the conference behind 9-0 Notre Dame-Fairfield, which visited Newtown on Thursday. Newtown upset Notre Dame 41-36 (read all about this exciting victory in the February 11 print edition of the paper).

Following the Notre Dame game, the Hawks were to have a makeup out-of-conference contest on the road with East Lyme on Saturday, February 5. The season wraps up with three SWC games: Monday, February 7 at Pomperaug of Southbury, Thursday, February 10 home against Bunnell of Stratford; and Tuesday, February 15 at Bunnell of Stratford — all at 7 pm.