STRATFORD — Following up their 40-32 loss at New Milford on January 30, the Newtown High School girls’ basketball team went to Bunnell to face the Bulldogs and earned a 58-36 win on February 2. The Nighthawks held an 18-point lead until the final 40 seconds of the first quarter. By halftime, the score was 32-16, and at the end of the third quarter it was 40-20.

The girls came out on the court ready to bounce back from their first loss in South-West Conference play, taking control of the court from the start.

“That game on Friday was a perfect storm of everything going wrong for us. We’ll take that it happened to everyone on the same night, so we knew what we needed to build upon,” Newtown High School Coach Jeremy O’Connell said.

Against Bunnell, Sam Diaspro led the team in scoring with 24 points, five of which were from the free throw line and nine from a trio of 3-pointers. Addy Cordova had nine points, Macey Arcario scored eight, and Kendal Khazadian and Ana Morris both had five.

Rebounding and fast-paced play were keys to Newtown’s performance.

“They’re tall, and you know, sometimes it’s tough to do but we did a really good job on the boards, and I thought we ran them until they couldn’t keep up with us anymore,” O’Connell said.

“We’ll continue to condition in practice because one of our strong suits is being able to outrun teams,” senior Leah Morris added.

Diaspro also led her team in steals, ending the game with six, and, along with Madi Weston, had six defensive rebounds.

“I think we came out with a lot more intensity and were able to make things happen on the offensive end by keeping up strong defense,” Leah Morris said.

The Nighthawks improved to 12-3 overall and 8-1 in conference play heading into their final five games of the regular season. The Hawks host Notre Dame Prep Thursday, February 5 at 6 pm.

Ava Lombardo is a Newtown High School senior intern with The Newtown Bee. She is committed to Roger Williams University, in Bristol, R.I., for volleyball and will study Marine Biology & Environmental Science.