Newtown High School’s girls’ basketball team scored 19 of its 23 second-half points from the foul line to surprise visiting Notre Dame-Fairfield 41-36 on February 3. The Lancers were previously unbeaten in South-West Conference play this winter and, in fact, hadn’t lost a true varsity game in the SWC since the tournament semifinals to Bethel in February of 2019 (ND fell to Masuk last winter in a game played without its regular varsity lineup).

The victory extended Newtown’s winning streak — which the Nighthawks pushed to ten games with a subsequent victory over host East Lyme two nights later — but stands alone given its magnitude. It was by far the team’s biggest victory of the season and temporarily forged a three-way tie atop the conference standings between the Hawks, Lancers, and New Fairfield Rebels; New Fairfield owns a tiebreaker having beaten Newtown.

“I think the kids now can finally believe in what we have to offer. When we come do the little things we can compete with anybody,” Newtown Coach Jeremy O’Connell said.

Newtown led 18-15 at the half and 28-24 through three quarters of play. The Hawks did not relinquish the lead in the second half, although the Lancers whittled what was a six-point deficit down to a point early in the fourth. The Hawks may have made only nine field goals in the game — including two in the second half and none in the fourth quarter — but the defense and enough success at the foul line got the job done.

“Doesn’t matter how we put points on the board as long as we do it,” O’Connell said.

Notre Dame got into foul trouble early then had to foul late to extend the game; the Lancers committed 18 fouls and Newtown had no small number of fouls either with 11. When all was said and done, the Hawks were 21 of 32 from the charity stripe. In the fourth quarter alone, Bella Gerace dropped in seven of her 12 points from the line; she had nine total points on foul shots and canned an early 3-pointer. With Newtown leading 35-32 late in the game, Gerace dribbled off about a half-minute of clock time before sinking key foul shots to make it a two-possession game with 46 seconds left.

Chloe O’Connell also hit clutch free throws to help seal the win. O’Connell had seven points, including a pair of first-half field goals, one of which was from downtown. Allie Bradley scored ten, and Izzy Caron dropped in eight. Kristen Reisert and Jenna Lagan each added two points.

O’Connell had eight rebounds, Bradley grabbed seven, and Gerace had six.

Newtown likes to press teams and push the pace but played a half-court game against a quick Lancer team, holding them to their lowest point total of the slate.

“They’re the best team in Connecticut. They’re extremely well-coached; they have unbelievable talent,” Coach O’Connell said.

That talent includes a pair of Division I college recruits: Manhattanville College-bound Aizhanique Mayo and LIU-bound Kayla Tilus, limited to a combined 11 points.

The Nighthawks defeated East Lyme 40-16, marking the sixth time they have held an opponent to 20 or fewer points this winter. Against East Lyme, Caron had 12 points, O’Connell and Macey Cuomo both had eight points, and Gerace scored six and had six assists.

The winning ways came to an end in a 44-33 loss at Pomperaug of Southbury on February 7. Caron had 14 points, Gerace scored nine, Bradley grabbed 13 rebounds, and O’Connell had ten rebounds.

Newtown left the Pomperaug gymnasium with a record of 14-4 (9-2 in conference play). The Hawks went into their last two regular season games in third place in the conference.

Sports Editor Andy Hutchison can be reached at andyh@thebee.com.