Newtown High School’s girls’ basketball team withstood visiting Kolbe Cathedral’s second-half comeback in which the Cougars erased a double-digit deficit to seize the lead, as the Nighthawks got past their South-West Conference rivals 34-29 in a makeup game on January 15.

“Kolbe is always one of the best teams in our conference,” Newtown Coach Jeremy O’Connell said. “When we play them it’s always a battle.”

Newtown led 17-6 at the half. Kolbe turned things around and seized a 22-21 lead through three quarters of play.

“In the second half, they came out hungrier than we did,” O’Connell said. “We were able to do what we needed to do to be successful.”

That included a solid defensive effort as the Hawks limited their opponents under 30 points for the fourth time to improve to 6-3 overall. NHS never fell behind by more than a point to the Cougars as the defense came up with big stops.

The teams went back and forth in the fourth. A long straightaway jumper from Bella Gerace gave the Nighthawks a 27-26 lead with 4:35 left, and the hosts did not relinquish the lead the rest of the way. Gerace nailed a 3-pointer to push the lead to 30-26 with 3:44 to play. Kolbe answered with a 3-pointer just over a minute later, to pull to within two, but couldn’t get any closer.

The Hawks missed a pair of front end one and one foul shot attempts late in the game but also made some clutch free throws down the stretch. Gerace hit a one and one and second attempt to make it 32-29 with eight seconds to go. Chloe O’Connell forced a turnover near midcourt, and Macey Cuomo added a pair of foul shots in a one and one scenario to seal the win. Newtown went 8-for-12 from the charity stripe in the game.

“We made baskets when we needed them,” Coach O’Connell said.

Gerace finished with a baker’s dozen points, Allie Bradley had eight, Izzy Caron scored six, Cuomo had four, and O’Connell added three.

Bradley had a dozen rebounds and two steals, along with one block; Kristen Reisert had a trio of defensive rebounds, a steal, and one block; and Cuomo and O’Connell both had a pair of steals.

Newtown was coming off a 42-25 win over visiting Brookfield two nights earlier. The Hawks held the Bobcats to just two points in the second quarter and led 16-9 at the half. NHS outscored Brookfield 26-16 after the break to pull away.

Caron scored 13 and Reisert dropped in ten to lead the way; Bradley, O’Connell, and Gerace all scored five.

Newtown’s coach noted after the win over Kolbe that the team is getting back into sync, including with rotations, after being shorthanded a few players due to coronavirus protocol and injuries.

The Hawks got their seventh win in ten games thus far with another defensive-minded effort as they beat host Bethel 40-28 on January 18. Gerace scored 11 points, Caron had nine, and O'Connell had seven points, ten rebounds, and five steals.

Newtown is at Immaculate of Danbury on Friday, January 21, for a 7 pm contest. NHS is scheduled to be home for three straight, Norwich Free Academy on Monday, January 24, at 6 pm, Weston the next night at 7, and Masuk of Monroe Friday, January 28, for another 7 o’clock tip.

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