Hawk Girls Upset Kolbe, Keep SWC Hopes Alive

By Andy Hutchison

The Newtown High School girls’ basketball team, on Tuesday, shocked visiting Kolbe Cathedral 40-29, handing Kolbe only its second conference loss this campaign and, in doing so, keeping its South-West Conference Tournament hopes alive.

The Nighthawks were led by their lone senior, Sara Kelley, who scored 27 points — 15 on a handful of 3-pointers, 2 on another field goal and 10 more on a perfect — and clutch — night at the foul line.

Newtown improved to 10-7 overall and 6-6 in the SWC. Kolbe, which had won eight in a row, fell to 13-4 and 10-2 in the conference.

Kolbe shot poorly, contributing to Newtown’s win, but credit the Nighthawks for playing strong defense and forcing some tough shots, too. NHS Coach Shawn O’Brien credited Jess Lynch for playing an outstanding defensive game and containing Kolbe standout Cherelle Moore, holding the All-State player to just six points. Lynch added four points on the other end of the floor. O’Brien also pointed to Kelley stepping up and, as the most experience player on the team, and putting the game away with a perfect performance at the line.

Newtown held a 22-18 halftime lead and never gave it up in the second half, outscoring Kolbe 18-11 after halftime and 12-3 in the fourth quarter. All season long, the Nighthawks have outplayed and outscored teams down the stretch in games but have sought to start games with better success since they had fallen short several times. They kept this one close early on and took a lead they were able to build on by continuing that late-game success.

“We just came out strong like we should in every game,” junior Taylor Benson, who had four points, said. Benson added that the Nighthawks set out to play hard but didn’t expect to come out and upset on the SWC’s best teams.

“It feels amazing,” Kelley added.

With her team leading just 30-27 with under three minutes to play, Kelley stepped behind the 3-point line and nailed her fifth 3-pointer of the game, to double Newtown’s lead. Kelley added six late-game free throws to seal the win and spark a fist-pump from O’Brien and smiles from all of his players.

“This is our best moment of the season — hands down. So it feels really good right now,” O’Brien said. “It’s just great to see a young group do something like this.”

Newtown is battling to get back to the SWC Tournament. The team has not failed to qualify since the SWC’s inception in 1996, O’Brien said.

“This could be something big for us. … This could be the one that gets us in, in the end,” O’Brien said.

Newtown will visit Brookfield on Friday, February 12 and return home to play Notre Dame-Fairfield on Monday, February 15, at 7 pm. The Hawks will end the regular season with another home tilt on February 17 against Oxford.

If the Nighthawks win those games and get a little outside help among teams battling to get into the SWC playoffs they will be there. O’Brien said his team was in a three-way tie with New Fairfield and Masuk, and that those teams lost to Kolbe which would give the Hawks a tiebreaker advantage if it comes to that.

Whatever happens, Newtown will be able to feed off a win against one of the best when the Hawks embark on state tournament competition.

“It builds up our confidence so much,” Kelley said. “It’s great.”