By Kim J. Harmon

The sheer enormity is hard to fathom, really.

The Newtown High School boys’ basketball all-time scoring record had stood for 25 years (first set by Steve Kordish) and the girls’ basketball all-time scoring record had stood for 13 years (first set by Lynn Lattanzio) and yet – incredibly – they were broken on the same night.

That’s right – on Saturday, February 7, within an hour of each other, Andrew Fiscella and Kelley Haines became the all-time leading scorers at Newtown High School. Fiscella did it with his ninth point in a 72-55 win over Joel Barlow while Haines did it with her 18th in a 53-39 win over Lauralton Hall.

On the same night.

It boggles the mind.

Andrew Fiscella

Andrew was on – that’s on with a capital O and a capital N – against Bethel while hitting five three-pointers in the second period alone, but the outside shot simply wasn’t falling two nights later against Joel Barlow. That didn’t stop him from scoring 30, though.

“I’ve been going with what’s been working,” said Andrew, who had 1,303 career points once the game was over, “and (the outside shot) wasn’t working.”

As prolific a scorer as he has been from the perimeter with the Nighthawks, Andrew’s tendency to drive through the defense has landed him at the foul line often – often enough that he has taken more than 500 foul shots in his career (while hitting better than 68% of those).

Sure, it might have been more dramatic had he scored the record-breaker from beyond the arc, but Andrew has spent a large portion of his life at the free throw line and that’s where the record fell with 2:13 remaining in the first period.

“You think about breaking a record – anyone who plays basketball does,” he said, “but it wasn’t what was on my mind when I first started playing here. I didn’t start thinking about it until I was a junior. I knew it was going to happen (tonight), but it was still a high with all the fans cheering.”

Perhaps the key to this achievement was the opportunity he had to play as a freshman – something not afforded a lot of players. With his brother, John, leading the team (and finishing his career with 891 points), Andrew managed to score 105 points to get started.

“I had a chance to get a lot of experience,” Fiscella admitted, “and I learned to make adjustments.”

After scoring 32 points against Jonathan Law on Tuesday, the scoring record has been pushed to 1,335 points. And with four more regular season games and, at the very minimum, two post-season tournament games to go there is no telling where that scoring record is going to end up.

Kelley Haines

The perfect symmetry of having two all-time scoring records fall on the same night relied on Kelley Haines scoring at least 19 points against Lauralton Hall – no mean feat, considering the senior guard was scoring slightly less than 17 points a game at the time.

But she scored those 19 points – and three more on top of that – and broke the 13-year-old record not from beyond the three-point arc as many would have figured, but on a driving layup in the fourth quarter.

“The record was more on mind in that game than in any other,” said Haines, “because I knew it was possible to do it that night. It was a relief because it had been another goal I had set for myself and I was feeling the pressure.”

The key to her achievement – much like that of Andrew Fiscella – was the opportunity to play as a freshman on a team that included perhaps the greatest group of players the school has ever known: Lisa Masella, Ally Gellert, Morgan Haines and Lori Iwanicki among them.

Kelley scored 79 points as a freshman and then – with those aforementioned girls having graduated – set a sophomore scoring record (set by Lynn Lattanzio) with 307 points. Her total of 472 points in 2002-03 was far and away the most ever recorded by a junior (151 more than Erica Hanson, who set that record in 1995).

“When I was little, one of my goals was to score 1,000 points,” Haines admitted with a smile, “but I never thought I’d do it.”

After scoring nine points against Jonathan Law on Tuesday, the scoring record has been pushed to 1,129. And – as in the case of Fiscella – with three more regular season games and, at the very minimum, two post-season games to go there is no telling where the scoring record is going to end up.

A Family Affair

It should come as no surprise that the Fiscella family (that’s John, Andrew and Darcy) has scored more points than any other family in Newtown High School history. Andrew (1,335), John (891), and Darcy (2) have the family at 2,228 points and counting.

Coming in a distant second is the Gellert family, with Andrew (1,147) and Ally (491) combining for 1,638 points. The Haines sisters are a close third (and getting closer), with Kelley (1,129) and Morgan (459) combining for 1,588 points.

Then there is the Wasko family, with father Steve (227), son Joe (283), and daughters Sarah (727) and Amy (135) combining for 1,372 points, and the Iwanicki sisters with Lori (859) and Julie (390) combining for 1,249 points (and with sister Christie waiting in the wings and sister Carly on the way).

And, finally (meaning hopefully no one has been overlooked), there is the Sullivan boys. Pat (665) and Mike (514) combined for 1,179 points.

Here is the list –

Family  Points

Fiscella *2,228

Gellert   1,638

Haines   *1,588

Wasko   1,372

Iwanicki                *1,249

Sullivan’s             1,179

* and counting