NHS Girls’ Basketball—

Nighthawks Exact Revenge On Weston, Win Again

By Andy Hutchison

One of only three teams to defeat the conference champion Newtown High School girls’ basketball team last year, South-West Conference rival Weston, visited town on Tuesday night. The Nighthawks made sure they would send a message to their counterparts, pulling away 68-45 in a thoroughly dominating performance that boosted the Newtowners to 4-0. The visiting Trojans fell to 0-3.

The Nighthawks used their full-court press to force turnovers all night long to maintain a large lead and give the reserve players a chance to come in off the bench and get quality varsity action. There was no let-up as the substitutes worked hard to fight for future playing time. As far as Newtown Coach Jeremy O’Connell was concerned, every one of his players caught his attention.

“Huge step in the right direction. Tonight was a redemption game for us. Last year, being 21-4 — two of our losses were to Weston. So we kind of circled this one going into the season saying, ‘You know what, we have something to prove,’ and every kid brought it tonight,” O’Connell said.

Ten Newtown players contributed points to the cluttered score sheet, led by Jess Lynch’s 17 and Bridget Power’s 10. Cassie Ekstrom and Erin Kenning both dropped in eight, Riley Wurtz contributed seven, and Carly Iwanicki and Maddy Good both had six. Tressa Scott, Kristina Engler, and Mary Jo Rossi had two each. Kristie VosWinkel and Sam Steimle also contributed to the complete team effort.

“We tell them, ‘Anytime you’re on the court, you’re proving stuff to us. You’re trying to earn your minutes, you’re trying to do everything you can to get into the game,’” O’Connell said of what the coaching staff does to motivate everyone on the team.

O’Connell noted that the Nighthawks played solidly defensively no matter who was on the court and had very few lapses in game full of good ball movement in the set offense, as well as strong finishes on fast-break opportunities. But it’s early still, and the coach recognizes room for improvement.

“We’re moving in the right direction. We’re nowhere near where we want to be, but I’m glad because it gives us a lot of things to focus on and to work on,” O’Connell said.

The Nighthawks following Thursday’s scheduled game at Stratford (after The Bee went to press), were set to embark on a brief tough out-of-conference stretch in the Manchester Holiday Tournament, beginning with a December 27 matchup with New Britain. Newtown, after visiting Masuk of Monroe on January 3, returns home to play Bunnell of Stratford on January 6.