By Andy Hutchison

Jen Daly grew up playing sports here in Newtown. The town’s high school varsity girls’ basketball coach, Shawn O’Brien, was excited to think that Daly — who made a lasting impression on him during her days in youth travel basketball — was going to suit up for him as a member of the Nighthawks.

But when Daly showed up to play on the Hawks Nest hardwood for the first time, well … it was in a visitor’s uniform — as a member of South-West Conference-rival Immaculate.

“We were sad when we knew she was going to Immaculate,” O’Brien said after his team hosted Daly and the Immaculate Mustangs last Friday. “She’s one of the better athletes in the league — and an outstanding basketball player.”

Daly showed why O’Brien and his staff and players were disappointed she didn’t play at NHS. She led a spirited comeback effort by Immaculate in a game with significant playoff implications. In the end, Newtown prevailed with a nail-biting 49-46 win to solidify at least the eighth and final seed in the upcoming SWC Tournament, while ending Immaculate’s chances of qualifying for the conference tourney (see related story). That was the bitter part of an otherwise sweet return for Daly.

“It’s a tough loss, but not the end of the world,” said Daly, whose team is still in the running for a state playoff spot. “We have two more games which are winnable games.”

The games, winnable as they may be, are against tough teams Notre Dame-Fairfield and Lauralton Hall. If Immaculate falls short, the Mustangs will look back at this defeat as a back-breaker as much as a heart-breaker. The clash went down to the wire, with Immaculate overcoming a 19-point third-quarter deficit to take one-point late-fourth quarter lead, only to see Newtown respond.

 After a quiet first half, Daly, a sophomore, turned it on in the third and fourth quarters and finished with 17 points to lead her team. She came up with a key steal and calmly sank a pair of free throws to pull her team to within three points in the final minutes and showed more poise by sinking another couple of foul shots to give her team a 46-45 lead with 1:01 to play. Trailing by a point with about a half minute to play, Daly’s potential go-ahead lay-up spun in and out. The sophomore had one more chance to tie the game but could not get a shot away in the closing seconds.

Win or lose, playing in her hometown against former youth league teammates was a thrill for Daly.

“It was a lot of fun. I have a lot of friends on the team,” Daly said. “It’s just a great feeling to be able to play kids you know.”

She grew up playing soccer, softball and travel basketball with some of the girls on the Newtown team — among them fellow sophomore Kate Bowen.

“We both wanted to win but we were both rooting for each other in our hearts,” Bowen said.