Newtown High School’s girls’ basketball team had its highest point total of the campaign and toppled host Bunnell of Stratford 65-34 on January 22. The Nighthawks won their third game in a row to improve to 9-4 overall.

The Hawks had a dozen players get into the scoring column as 14 team members played in a strong team effort from start to finish.

Mali Klorczyk led all scorers with 21 points, Rylee Mulligan had eight, Nicole DaPra dropped in seven, Haley Ryan scored six, Katie Reilly dropped in five, Kelly Merrick had four, Natalie Shaker contributed three, and Greta Staubly, Kira Smith, Hailey Conrad, Lauren Wilcox, and Olyvia Shaw each added two.

Klorczyk was seven of eight from the free throw line, had seven rebounds (six defensive), seven steals, five assists, and one block. Ryan had three assists, Wilcox pulled down four rebounds and had a pair of blocks, Reilly had two steals, Jessica Matura had four rebounds, and Christina Moore contributed in the win.

“A lot of kids played. It’s nice to have a night like that once in a while,” said Newtown Coach Jeremy O’Connell, adding that everybody on the roster works hard and contributes in practice.

Mulligan scored all eight of her points in the first quarter and DaPra dropped in her seven in the second. Klorczyk had two of Newtown’s four 3-point plays the old-fashioned way, scoring a basket and adding a free throw after being fouled.

The Nighthawks led 19-13 midway through the second quarter when two of those 3-point plays in succession doubled the lead in a matter of seconds. Reilly drove to the rim for three points with 4:42 to play, and Klorczyk capitalized for another hoop and foul shot 15 seconds later after capitalizing on a steal made possible by strong defensive pressure provided by both Klorczyk and Ryan.

“I like that we went to the hoop hard. We went to the rim tonight and we made it beneficial for us,” said O’Connell, whose team sank 18 of 33 free throw attempts.

DaPra scored from the outside as well as down low, draining a shot from along the baseline, using a spin move to get to the basket, and later nailing a 3-pointer that made it 36-17 with one minute to play in the opening half. Klorczyk drove to the basket for two points, then hit a long-range field goal with five seconds to go, capping a 21-4 run to close out the second quarter.

Newtown kept playing hard in the second half. Nighthawks dove to the floor to force tie-ups on consecutive Bunnell possessions early in the third quarter, and the pressure defense continued. Ryan’s 3-pointer from the corner extended the lead to 50-20 late in the third. Newtown led 55-25 heading into the fourth.