Newtown High School's girls' and boys' basketball teams both dropped hard-fought overtime contests this past week - the girls to visiting Joel Barlow of Redding on January 29, and the boys at the hands of host Kolbe Cathedral on February 2.Girls Now 10-6Boys Competitive

The girls dropped a 42-40 nail-biter to Barlow, then fought to the finish of a 50-46 setback to visiting Kolbe on February 2. The boys' squad, after a 61-58 loss at Barlow on January 29, lost 75-73 to Kolbe four days later. This marked the second time Newtown has fallen to Kolbe in extra time this winter.

The girls' cagers had won four games in a row before Barlow pulled out a matchup that was even at 35 apiece heading into OT. Mali Klorczyk led Newtown with 18 points, and Rylee Mulligan and Olyvia Shaw had seven and six, respectively. The Nighthawks were 8-of-13 from the free throw line.

Against Kolbe, Klorczyk again led the Nighthawks, pouring in 19 points, fueled by a perfect 8-for-8 performance from the foul line. Mulligan scored nine points, and a trio of Hawks - Hailey Conrad, Kelly Merrick, and Katie Reilly - all scored four. Shaw and Haley Ryan chipped in with three each.

Newtown was 11-of-17 from the foul line as a team, and Kolbe got to the charity stripe with regularity as the Cougars made 15 of 34 attempts. Although Newtown's foul trouble enabled the Cougars to hold their lead throughout the second half, Kolbe's foul shooting woes kept Newtown alive until the waning seconds.

After a low scoring first half (the game was tied 5-5 after one quarter of play and Newtown led 16-15 at the break), the offenses began to click. A Kolbe 3-pointer to open the second-half scoring put the Cougars in the lead for good.

Trailing 25-18, with three minutes and change remaining in the third quarter, the Hawks sliced the lead to four on Ryan's 3-pointer, but the Cougars responded with a 3-pointer of their own. Later in the period, back to back trips to the foul line for Klorczyk enabled the Hawks to chop a six-point deficit down to just two at 30-28. Kolbe racked up 21 third-quarter points and led 36-29 heading into the fourth.

The Nighthawks hung around. Trailing 37-33, they made it a one-point nail-biter when Mulligan drained a shot from beyond the 3-point arc with 4:44 to play. But the Cougars got the next seven points as turnovers and foul calls proved costly for the Nighthawks. After the teams traded points, Newtown again closed the gap to just one as Klorczyk turned a steal into a foul shooting opportunity and connected on both shots, making it 47-46 Kolbe with just 49 seconds remaining. The Cougars broke Newtown's full court press to score and tacked on a free throw to help ice the win.

Klorczyk and Conrad had six and five steals, respectively, as the Hawks compiled 19 steals as a team. Klorczyk had eight rebounds, Shaw pulled down six, and Mulligan had five to go along with a trio of assists.

In the loss to Barlow, Dillon Palumbo and Mason Melillo both had 13 points to lead the boys. Sam Duffy had nine points, and Tom Cotton and Joe Duero both dropped in eight. Newtown was sharp from the free throw line, hitting 16 of 21 attempts. Melillo and Duffy both pulled down ten rebounds, and Palumbo had eight rebounds.

Newtown and Kolbe were even at 65 apiece heading into overtime. Duero had a 28-point outburst, connecting on a whopping six 3-point attempts (and missing only five). Duffy and Palumbo had 14 and 11, respectively. Melillo added nine and Nick Weiland had six, hitting a pair of the team's ten shots from downtown. Duffy, Palumbo, and Melillo combined for 30 rebounds, and Duero and Nevin Zink combined for ten boards.

Despite their efforts, the boys fell to 2-12 overall. Three of this season's defeats have been in overtime (including a double OT thriller to Kolbe back in December), but Newtown Coach Tim Tallcouch notes that he's seen improvement in his squad in these past couple of tilts.

"Overall, the last two games have been better from a 32-minute commitment of energy, focus, and purpose. Unfortunately the results have been the same - a loss," Tallcouch said. "The players continue to come to practice and work hard, which is great to see."