So Close … NHS Girls Can’t Pull Off Upset In SWC Tourney

By Andy Hutchison

MILFORD — The third time was almost the charm, but the upset wasn’t to be.

Newtown High School’s girls’ basketball team, after losing to the Lauralton Hall Crusaders twice during the regular season, came oh so close to pulling off a big upset in the quarterfinal round of the South-West Conference Tournament on February 21. In the end, however, the tourney’s second-seeded and host Crusaders prevailed in a 36-31 comeback win over seventh-seeded Newtown.

Hall, 17-3 in the regular season (including 51-32 and 72-38 triumphs over Newtown), advanced in the tourney and Newtown (12-8 in the regular campaign) will have to wait for the start of state tournament play next week.

The underdog Nighthawks led for most of the night in a scrappy, defensive battle, but couldn’t hold onto a 25-16 lead with 5:14 to play in the third quarter. Hall, third in the Class LL state rankings, held Newtown to just two points in a span of 9:56 from the middle stages of the third quarter until the middle of the fourth, but the Nighthawks still found themselves within striking distance until the waning moments.

Down 34-29, the Nighthawks pulled to within three on freshman Riley Wurtz’s drive to the basket with 1:01 to play. With 43.1 ticks on the scoreboard clock the Nighthawks intentionally fouled Hall’s Miranda Raine, who missed the front end of a one and one opportunity at the foul line. But Hall’s Keylantra Langley grabbed the rebound, was later fouled and sank two shots to put the game on ice.

Hall briefly led in the second quarter and trailed all the way until the 5:11 mark in the fourth before Newtown turnovers aided the Crusaders’ comeback.

“Having the nine-point lead against one of the best teams in the state — it’s not like you’re home free. We knew they were coming back at some point,” NHS Coach Shawn O’Brien said.

After having been handed two lopsided defeats by the Crusaders, the Nighthawks set out to possess the ball on offense by making good passes and slow the pace of the game.

“We just wanted to maximize our potential — our chances to win the game — by holding onto the ball a little bit,” the coach said.

Newtown did that well for a majority of the night and held the Crusaders to their lowest point total of the campaign.

“To be winning the game late like that is amazing. I can’t say enough about the kids,” O’Brien said. “This was one of our best efforts of the year. If we had played like that every game we probably would have won three or four more games this year.”

To come so close but fall short was disappointing, but the players and coach took pride in pushing the Crusaders to the wire.

“It was a little frustrating but we gave it our all — that’s what counts the most,” NHS junior Sara Kelley said.

“It was a good game. We played hard,” said Wurtz, who was playing in her first varsity playoff game but led her team with 14 points.

Kelley had 8 points, senior Jen Brewer had 5, and senior Jordyn Good added 4. Freshman Jessica Lynch and junior Ally Modzelewski contributed to the efforts.

The Nighthawks will get a chance to rebound in the state tournament beginning on March 2. NHS is the No. 22 seed and will visit No. 11 Danbury in the Class LL tourney’s opening round. Game time is 7 pm.