Girls’ Basketball—

Nighthawks Look For A Rebound

By Steve Bigham

The Newtown High School girls’ basketball team is looking to regroup after a heartbreaking overtime loss at defending state champion Joel Barlow in Redding last Friday.

The Nighthawks appeared poised for its best win of the season, but failed to convert late in regulation and finally losing in OT, 56-50. The loss dropped them to 0-3 in the Southwest Conference (SWC) and 2-7 overall.

“That was as tough a loss as they come. I was rolling around in bed last night. I couldn’t sleep,” said Coach Shawn O’Brien. “We let them off the hook.”

Newtown held a 12-point advantage in the third quarter thanks to the play of  Morgan Knees, Nora Lynn Shimko, and Kate Bowen. But it saw that lead dwindle in the fourth quarter. Nevertheless, the locals maintained a five-point late in the game on a basket by Shimko, but Barlow’s Jenn Shinnall answered with a long three-pointer with 34 seconds remaining to cut the deficit to two. And after a couple of missed opportunities by Newtown, Barlow’s Melissa Touma sent the game into overtime with a pair of foul shots with no time left on the clock. Touma had been fouled as the buzzer sounded and there was some confusion as to what had actually happened. Once the dust settled, Touma made her shots and the Falcons took full control in the extra session.

“They built up a lead, we were forced to overplay and they hit their foul shots,” O’Brien explained. Barlow was 21-for-29 from the line for the game.

The Barlow game was one of those “winnable” games that Newtown had circled on its calendar early in the season. In the competitive SWC, there are four dominant teams this season and another six or seven that will vie for the final four playoff spots. Newtown lies in among that pack. However, the Barlow loss coupled with the Bunnell defeat earlier in the year puts Newtown’s back against the wall the rest of the way.

“We need to go 6-5 to make the states and probably 8-3 to make the conference tournament,” O’Brien figured.

The good news is that the toughest part of the schedule is now behind this team and there is optimism for good things to come. There are many positive signs. Take Knees’ performance against Barlow. The Newtown center finished with 15 points and 19 rebounds in what O’Brien called the “best game of her career.” Shimko scored 11 points and Bowen added nine for Newtown.

Newtown fell 81-42 to SWC and state power Kolbe-Cathedral in Bridgeport January 2. Thanks to Sarah Kelley’s 15-point performance, the Nighthawks stayed close for the first 20 minutes of the game, but were outscored 39-7 the rest of the way.

The Nighthawks have had their moments against Kolbe, breaking its 33-game winning streak a couple of seasons ago.

Newtown was off on Tuesday and was set to host New Fairfield Friday night. The team welcomes Bethel to town next Tuesday.