Newtown High School girls’ basketball Coach Jeremy O’Connell said during preseason that his inexperienced squad might take its lumps against tough nonconference competition early on — with the hopes it would pay dividends later in the season — but that still did not make a 39-29 loss to visiting Cromwell in the December 13 season opener sit well with the coach.

“We’re looking for someone to be an offensive threat for us ... There’s not a lot of experience at the varsity level and that showed tonight,” O’Connell said. “Defense wasn’t good either. We gave up wide open shots. We didn’t play good, hard defense.

“I thought we were more prepared than we were and that falls on me,” O’Connell added.

All of this said, the Nighthawks scratched and clawed and made a game of it after falling behind early on against a swarming Cromwell team that double-teamed, contested shots, and used a size advantage down low to make things tough on the NHS offense and defense. Cromwell led 12-7 after one quarter and 21-12 at the half. Down 17-11, the Nighthawks had a chance to cut into the deficit with four consecutive stops on defense, but could not cash in on the other end of the court.

The third quarter opened promisingly enough with a stop and steal leading to Chloe O’Connell’s 3-pointer to trim the lead to six. Kristen Reisert’s putback, following another defensive stand, made it 21-17, prompting Cromwell timeout a minute and a half into the quarter. The Newtown momentum was short-lived.

Trailing 24-17, Newtown kept battling. Reisert was fouled attempting a shot and had to exit the game temporarily because of a bloody nose. Molly McCleary subbed, took Reisert’s spot at the free throw line, and hit one. Cromwell pushed the lead to ten at 28-18. The Hawks had two more free throws among four attempts late in the quarter and it was 28-20 going to the fourth.

Newtown’s full court press led to several steals by Izzy Caron, Bella Gerace, and O’Connell. The Hawks stole the ball on four straight Cromwell possessions and forced turnovers on five consecutive defensive sequences but never got any closer than seven points behind.

When all was said and done, Allie Bradley led the Nighthawks with ten points, including four in the fourth when the Hawks tried to hang around. O’Connell had seven, Reisert four, Bella Gerace and Caron had three apiece, Bridget McCleary scored two, and Molly McCleary added one.

Caron had six steals, Gerace four, O’Connell three, and Bradley two. Reisert and Bradley both had seven rebounds and O’Connell pulled down six. Bradley blocked a pair of shots, and Reisert and Bridget McCleary both had one block.

Newtown made just 10 of 43 shots, including 1 for 12 from behind the 3-point line; the Hawks were 10-for-17 from the foul line.

After a home game with Darien on Thursday at 5:30 pm, Greenwich visits on Saturday, December 18, at 1 pm.

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