They pushed me too far

They don’t know what they’ve done

If it’s a fight that they want

Then it’s a fight that they’ll get

- Wake Up The Sleeping Giant

Twisted Sister

By Kim J. Harmon

It was probably the worst thing Kolbe Cathedral could have done – take a lead into the halftime break in its South-West Conference matchup with Newtown last Thursday.

Because it was probably the best thing that could have happened to the Nighthawks, who had just missed five bunny layups and were just 4-of-13 from the free throw line and needed something to show them how poorly they were playing.

The Cougars woke up the sleeping giant.

“We might have underestimated them,” said senior tri-captain Jayme Beckham. “They are a great team and came out really hard right off the bus.”

The Cougars – the defending CIAC Class S state champions – were never ahead by more than three points at any point in the first half but they proved themselves to be a very quick, sharp-shooting team with a strong inside game.

A 7-1 run at the end of the second quarter put Kolbe ahead 24-22.

“We had a nice halftime talk and we knew we just had to pick it up,” said Beckham. “We knew the first four minutes we’re really important and we just went out there hard.”

And blew the Cougars away. Beckham – who seemed to take it upon herself to put a charge into the game – scored 16 of her 18 points in the second half as the Nighthawks scored 37 points mostly by running the floor at breakneck speed.

“Me, Lauren and Amanda are such fiery captains,” said Beckham, “so we take it upon ourselves to get things going. But this is such a great team and everyone is so receptive to the energy we put out.”

Like Ally Gellert and Morgan Haines, who were simply brilliant defensively and helped the ‘Hawks go on an 18-8 run to start the third quarter and put the ‘Hawks ahead, 40-32.

Moments later, after Gellert sank a free throw and Lisa Masella put back the miss on Gellert’s second free throw, the ‘Hawks had their largest lead of the night, 43-34, and only saw it steadily climb.

An 8-3 run at the start of the fourth quarter (within the first 43 seconds of the quarter, Beckham made two steals and passed both times to Gellert for easy layups) pretty much put the game away.

Beckham scored eight points in the final quarter while Gellert and Lori Iwanicki had four apiece.

Iwanicki finished with a game-high 19 points and it was her first-half efforts (11 points) which were the Nighthawks’ saving grace. Iwanicki had six points in the first period as the ‘Hawks clung to an early 15-12 lead. She added a baseline runner and a 12-foot spot up jumper in the second quarter as the ‘Hawks fought to keep the Cougars at bay.

But the Cougars had some sharp shooters on the team – Tanesha Bonner, for instance, who scored 11 points on the night with one three-pointer. And then Morgan Williamson (18 points) in the middle proved to be troublesome for the Newtown defense as it struggled to get a body on her and prevent some easy layins.

So, the ‘Hawks went into the halftime break knowing full well they could have – and should have – been leading by at least 10 points. Even with that knowledge lingering in their heads at the start of the third quarter, Kolbe canned an early basket to take its largest lead of the game, 26-22.

But after a pull-up jumper by Beckham, an inside basket by Marsilio (off a beautiful feed from Gellert) and a baseline jumper by Beckham the ‘Hawks were off and running.

And there was no stopping ‘em.

Gellert finished with eight points while Masella and Marsilio finished with four points apiece. Morgan Haines, Kelley Haines and Lauren Adamek chipped in with two points apiece. The team itself shot much better from the line in the second half, 8-of-12.

The Nighthawks pushed their 2000-01 record to 5-0 overall, 3-0 in the South-West Conference. On Wednesday, they traveled to Monroe to take on Masuk in the first round of the annual Masuk Holiday Tournament (after press time).

The tournament championship (against the winner of the Joel Barlow-Warren Harding game) will be Friday at 8 pm. A full slate of games that day includes the junior varsity consolation and championship games (1 and 3 pm) and the varsity consolation game (6 pm).

Junior Varsity

The jayvee Nighthawks pushed their own record to 5-0 with recent (and relatively easy) wins over Joel Barlow (52-19), Weston (48-18) and Kolbe Cathedral (58-38).

The jayvees had a score to settle with Barlow.

“They beat us last year during the Masuk Holiday Tournament,” said coach Cynthia Klebon, “but this particular game was much different. Our pressure defense was the key.”

Kelley Haines scored 15 points with a pair of three-pointers and chipped in with five rebounds, a steal, a block, and an assist. Tori Filler also scored in double figures with four rebounds and two steals.

Julie Iwanicki added eight points and dished out three assists. Erin Murdoch contributed six points of her own and grabbed a couple of boards. Shannon Kohn, Christine Manfredonia and Stephanie Logan combined for eight points. Logan, meanwhile, also grabbed eight rebounds.

“The start of the season looks very bright,” said coach Klebon, “but we continue to need improvement.”

In a 48-18 win over Weston, Kohn led all scorers with 11 points while Iwanicki added eight. Haines and Filler tossed in seven points apiece while Julie Neitch canned six.

Kohn and Filler combined for 11 rebounds while Filler, Iwanicki and Haines combined to make 10 steals. Kohn and Manfredonia also dished off three assists apiece.

In the win over Kolbe, Filler canned 14 points and Iwanicki chipped in with 12. For Iwanicki, it was the first part of a double-double for the evening as she also dished off 11 assists.

Eight different players got into the scoring column in this one, with Haines scoring nine, Logan scoring seven, Manfredonia and Murdoch scoring six apiece, and Monica Cluff and Kaitlyn Murphy scoring two apiece.

Logan, Filler and Haines combined for 18 rebounds.