NHS Girls’ Basketball—

Defending SWC Champions Know What It Takes To Win

By Andy Hutchison

Coming off a season in which it won the South-West Conference championship, Newtown High School’s girls’ basketball team will try to get back to the top. Newtown Coach Jeremy O’Connell says the team members have plenty of confidence, with much of the lineup back in the fold, knowing what could be based on what has been.

“Last year we were kind of an enigma. We knew we had talent but we didn’t know what it would be like to put it all together and how successful we would be,” O’Connell said. “Now, knowing how successful we were last year, keeping the focus to working as hard as we possibly can every day is what we’re trying to pride ourselves on.

“Last year we didn’t know where we could get, so everyone was working so hard to get somewhere,” the coach added. “Now we know where we can go so the emphasis is to work that hard on staying there.”

Staying at the pinnacle of the conference will not be easy, the coach notes. Lauralton Hall of Milford, the team NHS defeated in last year’s title game and which later eliminated NHS from the second round of the Class LL state tourney, is among the tough teams the watch out for. Pomperaug of Southbury, too, is expected to be among the top conference foes.

“There are a lot of good teams in the SWC and you never know, but if we play as hard as we do normally we’re going to be very difficult to beat,” O’Connell said.

The Nighthawks lost Taylor Benson and Sarah Pettinelli to graduation and Abbey Doski does not return. But the team has plenty of talent back on the court, led by senior captains Riley Wurtz and Jess Lynch, along with junior captain Bridget Power. Carly Iwanicki returns as a senior. The rest of the lineup comprises underclassmen: Erin Kenning, Maddy Good, Sam Steimle, Cassie Ekstrom, Tressa Scott, and Kristina Engler.

As always, fans should expect Newtown’s all-out up-tempo style of play, and a pressuring defense night in and night out. Wurtz is among the most athletic players in the conference and proves to be a dangerous scoring weapon both from the outside and when driving to the rim. “We pride ourselves on working harder than any team we play,” O’Connell said.

The Nighthawks opened the season with wins over New Fairfield and host New Milford in the season-opening tournament December 7 and 9, then improved to 3-0 with a win at Bunnell of Stratford on December 12.

Wurtz hit the game-winning shot in Newtown’s season-opening 48-46 victory over New Fairfield. Wurtz had 20 points and Power added 12.

Newtown dominated New Milford 60-24 behind 18 points and 14 assists from Wurtz and 14 points from Power. NHS topped Bunnell 81-61 as Lynch piled up 28 points to lead all scorers. Wurtz had 26 points to go along with ten assists, Power had 14 points, and Iwanicki pulled down ten rebounds.

After more than a week away from game play, the Hawks will get back at it with their first home game, when Weston visits on Tuesday, December 20, at 7 pm.

Newtown doesn’t face Lauralton until a January 17 battle in Milford.