Newtown High School's girls' basketball team defeated visiting New Fairfield 56-44 in the South-West Conference tournament semifinals on February 24. With the win, the second-seeded Nighthawks will play in the championship game.

The Nighthawks will take on No. 1 Notre Dame-Fairfield, a 72-49 winner over No. 5 Kolbe Cathedral of Bridgeport in the other semifinal. The title game will take place Wednesday, February 26 at 7 pm; the game will be at Bunnell High in Stratford). New Fairfeld, the No. 6 seed, will wait for the start or state tournament play to get back to game action.

Cyleigh Wilson had 18 points and Amy Sapenter scored 17 points to lead the Nighthawks. Wilson hit four of Newtown's eight 3-pointers. The game was all even at 18 after one quarter of play and NHS led 34-26 at the half. The Nighthawks pulled away in third and carried a 49-31 advantage into the fourth.

Wilson's outside shooting abilities helped set up her drives to the basket and she began the second-half scoring with a layup. Carlie Smith drained a 3-pointer for a 40-26 lead and Wilson followed with a 3-pointer of her own. Chloe O'Connell dipped the shoulder and got past a defender for a basket in close and Sapenter added a right-corner 3-pointer as Newtown extended its lead in the third.