Note: The Friday, January 28 game versus Masuk has been moved up to 4:45 pm.

Newtown High School’s girls’ basketball team has made things look pretty easy — on paper at least — reeling off six straight victories. But there have been some hard-fought contests and deceptive blowouts along the way.

“This is who we are,” Newtown Coach Jeremy O’Connell said after his team toiled through a rough first half then pulled away to defeat visiting Norwich Free Academy 37-17 on January 24.

Newtown led 14-10 after two quarters before improving its offense in the second half to seize control. Things were a bit reversed in the previous contest when the Nighthawks built an 11-point cushion with 1:37 to play before holding on to edge host Immaculate of Danbury 41-39 on January 21.

“We need to just grind, grind, grind,” O’Connell said.

In more ways than one. In addition to grinding out victories, the Hawks will have to slog through a busy stretch of games. They are in the midst of six contests in 11 days, including a pair of back-to-backs.

NHS hosted Weston the night after defeating NFA and found itself in a 20-20 deadlock late. Bella Gerace broke the tie by hitting a clutch 3-pointer with 20 seconds left. Allie Bradley had a big block and rebound to help seal a 24-20 win.

Newtown is scheduled to host Masuk of Monroe on Friday, January 28 at 4:45; a scheduled January 29 visit to East Lyme has been rescheduled for Saturday, February 5. The Hawks visit Stratford on Monday, January 31, at 7 pm. Then they get a couple consecutive days off from games before jumping back into the fire against a tough Notre Dame-Fairfield squad which is unbeaten in state play; the defending South-West Conference champions visit Thursday, February 3 at 7 o’clock. After playing Notre Dame there are just four more games on the slate before the postseason commences.

“We’re hoping this will get us in the right frame of mind going into February,” O’Connell said of the jammed schedule.

The Hawks are relying heavily on both their conditioning and depth off the bench as the season gets past the midway point and approaches the postseason finish line.

“We need to definitely make sure we have good load management with everyone,” O’Connell said. “We just need to rest them mentally and physically when we can.”

In the win over NFA, continued defensive intensity and improved ball movement led to the Hawks outscoring their opponent 12-2 in the third and allowing for more substitutions to give starters breaks and subs opportunities to play. Newtown held NFA without a point until the final seven seconds of the third and carried a 26-12 lead into the final period.

Gerace led the way in the win over NFA, dropping in 18 points, half of which came on a trio of 3-pointers — including long-range shots on consecutive possessions in the Nighthawk game control-grabbing third quarter. Gerace also had seven of Newtown’s 18 steals.

Bradley had seven points along with eight rebounds, one steal, two assists, and a block. Chloe O’Connell had four points, a trio of assists, two steals, and a block. Molly McCleary scored four points. Kristen Reisert had three steals and Macey Cuomo had two steals. Sophia Verdi, Jenna Lagan, Kendall Reed, Molly Connors, Izzy Caron, and Bridget McCleary all provided contributions as well.

In the win over Immaculate, Gerace had 13 points, O’Connell had eight points and eight rebounds, and Gerace and Bridget McCleary combined to go 5-for-6 from the free throw line in the final half minute to help the Hawks escape.

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