Newtown High School’s girls’ basketball team had a game plan and stuck with it on the way to a 44-32 win over visiting South-West Conference rival Joel Barlow of Redding on January 9.

A collective defensive effort, the usual scoring prowess of Sam Diaspro, and offensive contributions from three other scorers added up to victory.

Coming off a game in which the Nighthawks used 15 steals to spark its offense, the NHS defense did its thing in less attention-grabbing style, yet it was just as effective in the form of containment.

The Hawks had the challenge of guarding Barlow standout Mia Tartaglia, a senior guard who is following the path of former Nighthawk Izzy Caron and will play at St Lawrence University in Canton, N.Y. next year.

Tartaglia was held scoreless in the opening quarter, but Paige Jarvis took advantage of opportunity by knocking down a trio of 3-pointers, among four by the Falcons in the first, which kept the game close. It was 16-14 Nighthawks after one thanks to Diaspro also hitting three shots from behind the 3-point arc, among four by the Hawks in the first eight-minute period.

The Falcons managed just two points in the second quarter and were mostly cold offensively the rest of the way. Newtown established a 23-16 halftime lead and held a 33-24 advantage going to the fourth. Barlow went without a point for almost all of the second quarter, finally getting on the board ten seconds before halftime. The Nighthawks defense held the Falcons without a point until they hit a pair of free throws five-plus minutes into the third.

As the Falcons struggled to score, Newtown’s offense, while challenged by a tough Falcon D, found a way to build the lead. After an Anna Morris layup in the waning seconds of the first broke the tie, a steal and layup by Diaspro opened the second-quarter scoring and the Hawks were on their way to a 9-0 run.

Addy Cordova began the second half with a 3-pointer for a double-digit NHS lead at 26-16. Diaspro’s pull-up jumper and subsequent 3-pointer widened the lead to 31-16, capping a 17-2 NHS run.

The Falcons managed to hang around, picking at the deficit and eventually pulling to within a half dozen at 36-30 before the midpoint of the fourth.

Things could have continued to go Barlow’s way if not for a nice hustle play by Macey Arcario, who saved a backcourt violation, leading to Madi Weston’s hoop for a 38-30 Nighthawk lead right with four minutes to play. Diaspro’s right-corner 3 and Cordova’s 3-point play the old fashioned way, a basket and foul shot, enabled the Hawks to pull away late.

“It’s everything we wanted to do,” Newtown Coach Jeremy O’Connell said of his team’s all-around effort.

“We were going to live and die with their other kids,” the coach said of focusing attention on Barlow’s top scoring threat.

O’Connell said the Hawks were prepared for the potential for Barlow scoring coming from other sources.

“We were going to continue our game and we did,” the coach said.

Sticking to it paid off, with the Falcons needing three quarters to barely surpass their first-quarter offensive output.

“Just very proud of the girls,” O’Connell said.

Diaspro has regularly been Newtown’s offensive leader and poured in 22, with 18 of her points coming on a half-dozen 3s.

Cordova scored eight, and Morris and Weston both contributed seven.

“We had other kids hit big shots when needed,” O’Connell pointed out.

Diaspro had three steals to go along with seven rebounds — all on the defensive end of the floor; Morris also had a pair of takeaways, one block, and grabbed six defensive rebounds; Arcario and Weston each had seven rebounds; and Leah Morris had a pair of offensive rebounds.

The backcourt rescue by Arcario stood out to the NHS coach as the kind of play that will help the Hawks go places.

“That was huge. Things like that, the little things, and we talk about this all the time, are the things we do that can make us tough to beat,” he said. “I think we can be pretty dangerous.”

Newtown visited Pomperaug of Southbury and came away with a 54-35 victory on January 12. The Hawks improved to 6-2 overall and 3-0 in SWC play. Ana Morris had 15 points, eight rebounds, and three steals; Diaspro 15 points, ten rebounds, and four assists; Cordova dropped in nine points and played fantastic defense; Arcario had seven points and seven rebounds; and Weston added five points and eight rebounds.

NHS, following a 58-46 win over visiting Masuk on Thursday, will travel to New Jersey to take on Ridgewood High Saturday, January 17 at 1 pm, then head to New Fairfield Tuesday, January 20 at 6 pm.

Sports Editor Andy Hutchison can be reached at andyh@thebee.com.