By Kim J. Harmon
By Kim J. Harmon
A little rust, thatâs all.
It had been 18 days since the Newtown Middle School basketball teams (thatâs girls and boys) donned their uniforms and it showed on Tuesday afternoon when they both stumbled to losses against Memorial Middle School of Middlebury.
The girls allowed a small lead to escape their grasp in the third period and fell 37-31. Meanwhile, the boys fell into a deep, deep hole very early in the game and ended up on the short end of a 48-36 score.
The losses dropped both squads to 1-1.
There was not a whole lot of offense in the first period, but most of the offense that did take place was on the Newtown side of the court. Baskets by Joanna Barry and Morgan Knees and a foul shot by Kelly Tenney had the Lady Lions up early 5-0.
Knees was dominating in the middle, too, with four rebounds and a block in the first period alone. She had two more blocks and two more rebounds in the second quarter, as well.
But at the same time, Memorial was getting its own offense in gear. By the middle of the second quarter, the hosts had tied the score at 7-7 and with an outside jumper a few moments later had taken a 9-8 lead.
Buckets by Jen Brill and Meg Trosan, though, helped the Lady Lions go into the locker room with a 12-9 lead.
But Memorial hit the floor running in the second half, going on an 11-0 run and putting Newtown in a 20-12 hole. The hosts â led by a little firebrand named Jillian Cipriano â were quick up and down the floor and hard to defend. Barry, though, popped in a short basket to stop the run and then Tenney and Knees both hit baskets to bring the Lady Lions to within two, 20-18.
Although the little run looked promising, the locals would only get as close as one point in the fourth quarter and were unable to get the key basket that would give them back the lead.
Knees had six points in the fourth quarter alone and Katie Condon had five (including a last-second three-pointer from the top of the key), but Memorial always remained a step ahead.
Knees finished the afternoon with 12 points, six rebounds and four blocks. Tenney (6), Condon (5), Barry (4), Trosan (2) and Brill (2) also contributed to the offensive effort.
The Lady Lions were looking to rebound against Bethel on Thursday (after press time). They will host Whisconier on Thursday, January 15, with the eighth-grade game tipping off at 3:30 and the seventh-grade game tipping off at 5 pm.
NOTE: Stacy Broughton was mistakenly left out of the 2003-04 winter preview of the Newtown Middle School girlsâ basketball team.
The hole was dug early and it just got deeper and deeper.
Before the Lions even had a chance to acclimate themselves to their first competition in 18 days, they were down 6-0 on a pair of three-pointers by Memorial. Greg Larnerd and Jason Smith answered back with a couple of buckets, but then the hosts went on a 10-0 run that changed everything.
Down 16-4, the Lions had to play catch up.
Except they never got caught up.
Sure, the Lions did get as close as seven points very early in the third quarter on a soft jumper by Mike Maher, but Memorial went on another big run (9-0 this time) to take a 27-11 lead. Dylan Clark, Bob Lapple (on a nice rebound and putback), Larnerd and Maher all had buckets after that, but Memorial kept pace and led 37-22 at the close of the period.
The Lions went down as much as 18 points in the fourth quarter, but they did go on a modest 12-6 run that got them to within 12 points, 48-36, at the final horn. Clark had six points in the run while PJ Cochrane added five (including a three-pointer in the final seconds).
Clark finished with 11 points on the afternoon. Larnerd chipped in with six points while Cochrane and Maher had five points apiece. Lapple (4), J. Smith (2) and Erik Dreher (1) all contributed to the offensive effort.
The Lions were looking to rebound against Bethel on Thursday (after press time). They will travel to Brookfield on Thursday, January 15, to take on Whisconier. The seventh-grade game will tip off at 3:30 pm while the eighth-grade game will tip off at 5 pm.