The defending South-West Conference champion Newtown High School’s girls’ basketball team may be starting fresh with a new season and some different players in starting roles, but it is a familiar scene overall on the Nighthawks’ hardwood.

Coach Jeremy O’Connell’s squad again will look to utilize a deep bench by pushing the play, and the opposition, with aggressive defense and a fast-break offense, and involving players off the bench with regularity to make the style of play possible.

Newtown is led by senior captains Amy Sapenter, Cyleigh Wilson, Carlie Smith, Juliette Cryder, and Rebecca Alicea.

Other key returnees are juniors Shea Murphy, Emma Magazu, and Julia Gerace, along with sophomore Chloe O’Connell.

The team will have to fill voids left by graduates Nicki DaPra, Jackie Matthews, Cailin Wilson, and Lina Stubbs, but has plenty of athletes in the fold to keep the pressure on.

“We are an incredibly deep team that will try to make the game uptempo,” O’Connell said.

Games against tough out-of-conference foes are designed to help prepare the Nighthawks for playoff time as has been past practice for the program.

“We are playing a brutal non-league schedule to get us ready to make a run at repeating as SWC Champs and taking the next step in the state tourney,” said O’Connell, whose team advanced to the Class LL tourney quarterfinals a year ago.

Newtown’s non SWC games are against a pair of state champions — Class M winner Cromwell and Class LL champ Norwalk — as well as Norwich Free Academy, East Lyme (Class L state tourney quarterfinalist), and Mansfield, Mass.

Solid competition from within the SWC should be provided by the likes of Notre Dame (Class L semifinalist), Bethel (the team Newtown defeated in last year’s conference title game), Kolbe Cathedral of Bridgeport (Class M semifinalist; beaten by Cromwell), Pomperaug of Southbury (Class L quarterfinalist), and New Fairfield.

"You can't sneak up on anyone anymore. You know night in and night out you're going to get everyone's best effort throughout the season," said O'Connell, adding that his team will have to dig a little deeper to find what it takes to succeed this winter.

The season begins at Cromwell on Tuesday, December 14 at 7 pm. NHS hosts Norwalk two nights later, also at 7. The SWC portion of the schedule doesn’t kick in until after the New Year. The Hawks visit Pomperaug on Tuesday, January 14, at 7 pm, and go to Bethel on Thursday, January 16, at 6 pm.