By Kim J. Harmon

FAIRFIELD – Together again.

Just about six months removed from their stunning victory over New Fairfield in the South-West Conference championship, a large contingent – eight of the 11 returning players and all five starters – were back on the floor, together, last week for the Hoop School Team Camp at Fairfield University in Fairfield.

More than 10 teams – high school and middle school – traveled down the Merritt Parkway for three days of lecture, drills, instruction and games. This is the 19th year for the Hoop School, but only the second year for the Team Camp.

Ally Gellert, Lisa Masella, Jayme Beckham, Shannon Kohn, Lori Iwanicki, Morgan Haines, Lauren Adamek and Amanda Marsilio were there representing the Nighthawks – who finished 21-4 a year ago, making it to the second round of the CIAC Class LL state tournament before bowing out in a loss to New Britain.

The Nighthawks – who will be returning all but one of their players, Kate Ryan – earned their first-ever South-West Conference championship back in February with a thrilling 46-45 win over New Fairfield. The Lady Rebels had crushed the Nighthawks by better than 20 points earlier in the season, but the ‘Hawks – left without the services of their center, Marsilio, who was recovering from a torn ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) – evolved their game and laid claim to the SWC title.

Ryan hit the winning shot with 7.4 seconds to play.

Along with Newtown, there were teams at the Hoop School Team Camp from Norwalk (a FCIAC powerhouse, the defending CIAC Class LL state champion), Westhill, Derby, Fairfield, Seymour and, of course, Masuk – one of the Nighthawks’ arch-rivals from the SWC.

“The object has been to get teams together and give them experience with different coaches and different techniques,” said camp director Dianne Nolan, the Fairfield University women’s basketball coach. “It also gives these girls a chance for a little freedom, away from the crowds and their parents, maybe play a different position and have some fun.”

The camp was also organized in large part by Chris Lindwall, former Joel Barlow girls’ basketball coach who is now an assistant at Fairfield University.

A typical night at camp – like Thursday – started with some warm-up and conditioning drills and then moved on to one-on-one instruction with collegiate players and coaches.

Then came the competitions.

On Thursday, it was a game against Derby early on which proved that the Nighthawks – all playing summer league or AAU basketball (Haines and Iwanicki recently returned from a national tournament in Texas) – still held the fire that burned in them during the 1999-2000 season. Even though the 2000-2001 season is still four months away, the ‘Hawks took to the court as if it were the first game of the regular season.

There seemed to be little emphasis on calling fouls, but the ‘Hawks showed that their defense had certainly not lost any of its edge, clamping down on Derby about five or six minutes into the contest and transforming turnovers into easy baskets.

There were four courts going at once in the Birkenstock Field House and another two going at once down in the adjacent field house.

And even though it should have been time to start thinking about football and soccer and volleyball and stuff like that, it was all basketball last week.