Newtown High School’s girls’ basketball team defeated Weston 45-29 on February 9.

Macey Arcario had a career-high 12 points and ten rebounds, Sam Diaspro logged 15 points, and Ana Morris added 11 to lead the way. This was the program’s Pink Out fundraiser game and the Nighthawks supported the Kay Yow Cancer Fund.

The Nighthawks were coming off a big game on February 5 when they hosted Notre Dame Prep of Fairfield, a team unbeaten in South-West Conference play. The Lancers prevailed 46-40 in a matchup the slight underdog Nighthawks led most of the way.

Newtown jumped out to a 12-2 lead and was ahead 15-11 after one quarter of play. The Lancers, behind accurate 3-point shooting, hung close early on. After a Notre Dame 3 knotted the score at 17 apiece early in the second, NHS went back in front when Diaspro hit a 3 of her own. Diaspro’s steal set up Ana Morris for a bucket with two seconds left in the half, making it 26-20 Hawks going into the break.

Diaspro’s takeaway near mid court sprung her free for a layup and an eight point lead early in the third. Arcario scored to extend the advantage to ten. The Lancers got to within six, but saw the Nighthawks go up eight points on a pair of Diaspro free throws as a result of a rare technical foul for having six players on the court. Back-to-back Lancer 3-pointers made it 34-32 Hawks, it appeared, heading to the fourth.

The Nighthawks partially capitalized on a double foul scenario, a standard two-shot foul just before the buzzer coupled with a two-shot technical call against the Lancer bench, which was not pleased with the initial call. The Hawks hit two of the four free throws for a 36-32 lead but went cold from that point on.

Newtown went without a final-stanza point until Madi Weston made a free throw with 45 seconds to play. By then, a combination of Nighthawk turnovers and some shooting woes led to the Lancers building a 41-36 lead. The Lancers finished with nine 3-pointers, but Newtown still could have been able to pull this one out if not for that rough fourth quarter on offense.

“We did not make shots and we also struggled taking care of the ball,” NHS Coach Jeremy O’Connell said. “We need the mindset of playing to win — not to lose.”

The coach felt his team did the latter in the final eight minutes of game action after being thrilled with the first half along with the third.

“I was really happy with how we played for three quarters because we played to win,” the coach said.

Diaspro finished with 14 points, Ana Morris 11, and Addy Cordova seven. Diaspro had six rebounds, three steals, an assist, and a block. Ana Morris logged three rebounds and three steals; Cordova had five rebounds and two steals; Weston recorded five rebounds; and Arcario had seven rebounds and a steal.

Despite the outcome, the closeness of the matchup, and especially that strong play for three quarters, shows a little something as they get closer to the postseason.

“We belong — we belong in the upper echelon of the SWC this year,” O’Connell said.

A key for the Nighthawks, the deeper they get into postseason tournament play, will likely be an ability to prevail in close contests.

NHS has lost just twice in SWC play this winter; the other was a 40-32 setback to New Milford. The Hawks also were edged by Stamford by a point and fell to East Lyme by eight. “We’ve struggled in close games the last two years,” O’Connell said.

The Nighthawks are 9-2 in SWC play; Notre Dame is 10-0. NHS has a few teams right on its heels heading into the stretch run: Joel Barlow of Redding (whom the Hawks defeated), New Milford, and Bethel (coming up in the final week of the regular slate). The teams are all jockeying for playoff positioning and home court in the early rounds.

Newtown, after hosting Brookfield Thursday, visits Bethel Tuesday, February 17 at 6 pm, then travels to West Haven for a nonconference matchup on Friday, February 20 at 6 pm.

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