Held to just nine first-half points, Newtown High School’s girls’ basketball team used tenacious defense to generate explosive offense in the third quarter – riding a 21-2 run to a 48-37 win over visiting Immaculate of Danbury in the South-West Conference tournament quarterfinals on February 21.

Newtown, the second seed in the bracket, survived an early scare from the seventh-seeded Mustangs. With the win, the Nighthawks earn another game on their home floor, since Newtown is the designated site for the conference semifinals. The Hawks will take on third-seeded Notre Dame-Fairfield at 5:30 pm on Tuesday, February 24.

In the win over Immaculate, Mali Klorczyk led the Nighthawks with 18 points, Olyvia Shaw dropped in ten, Haley Ryan scored nine, Kelly Merrick scored eight, and Sarah Lynch contributed five.

Shaw was a force near the basket, pulling down 14 rebounds, nine of which came on the defensive end of the court. She also had five of Newtown’s 12 steals. Lynch dished out seven assists. Klorczyk had four steals, a trio of assists, and two of her team’s 11 blocks. Merrick led the way with seven rejections.

Newtown overcame its troubles at the free throw line, making up for hitting only 11 of 27 shots in this physical-at-times battle. The Hawks also overcame a 16-9 halftime deficit and put up 30 more points in the second half than they had in the opening two quarters. The Nighthawks exceeded their first-half point total with their tenth third-quarter point only 2:34 into the second half. They outscored Immaculate 23-6 in the third quarter.

“The whole first half we played very tight. I think we were waiting for somebody to make a play instead of creating a play,” Newtown Coach Jeremy O’Connell said. “In the second half we played together.”

And everybody on the court made plays. Merrick scored down low, off a pass from Lynch, a half-minute into the third to get the turnaround started. A Lynch steal on the ensuing possession pretty much set the tone for Newtown’s forced turnover-filled second half. Lynch drove to the rim, was fouled, and made one shot to make it a 16-12 game.

Newtown’s defensive pressure forced Mustang throw-aways on successive possessions, and another Lynch-to-Merrick connection down low pulled the home team to within a bucket at 16-14. Klorczyk came away with a steal and went end-to-end for a shot; Shaw hit a put-back effort despite a foul, and completed a 3-point play for a 17-16 NHS lead with 5:37 to go in the eight-minute quarter. Just 11 seconds later, Klorczyk got the ball to Shaw for two more points and a 19-16 advantage. Timeout Mustangs.

Out of the break, things stayed the same. Lynch and Klorczyk double-teamed an Immaculate player near midcourt to force a turnover which led to a Ryan 3-pointer before the Mustangs finally ended Newtown’s 13-0 half-opening stretch with a pair of free throws with 4:40 to go in the quarter. The Hawks got the next eight points, however, and never looked back, although the Mustangs battled back into the game in the fourth.

Down 32-22 entering the final period, the Mustangs scored the first five points, and had a 7-1 run to get to within four at 33-29. A Klorczyk 3-pointer and Lynch steal and layup ten seconds apart restored order for the Hawks as they claimed a 38-29 advantage with 4:50 to go, and the Mustangs never got any closer.