Speed Kills … NHS Girls’ Basketball Team Falls In States

By Andy Hutchison

NORWALK — They say speed kills. On March 2, speed killed the Newtown High School girls’ basketball team’s chances of advancing in the state tournament.

Quick and athletic themselves, the up-tempo Nighthawks (the tournament’s 19th seed) met an even faster foe, Brien McMahon of Norwalk (the No. 14 team), and fell 65-57 in the Class LL State Tournament’s first round.

“We hadn’t seen a team this fast. Hats off to them,” Newtown Coach Shawn O’Brien said. “Obviously, this is the fastest team we’ve seen all season.”

Close throughout the first half, thanks to the outside shooting of Sara Kelley (22 points, including 12 on 3-pointers), the game started to turn in favor of the host Senators who pulled ahead by nine and led 32-25 at the end of two quarters of play. NHS sophomore Riley Wurtz sank a pair of 3-pointers to begin the second half and added a jumper to get Newtown within 34-33 less than two minutes into the third quarter.

McMahon, though, had again grabbed the momentum and a multiple-possession lead by the time there were two minutes remaining in the quarter. In the fourth, Newtown fell behind by as many as 12, but kept fighting and, eventually, got to within 59-53 when Wurtz converted a steal and layup into a 3-point play. The Hawks cut the deficit to five when freshman Erin Kenning hit a baseline shot with less than a minute remaining, but the visitors got no closer.

Wurtz had 13 points, Jess Lynch scored 10, Carly Iwanicki dropped in 5, and Abbey Doski (who hit a 3-pointer), Kenning and Taylor Benson all had hoops.

The Nighthawks struggled from the foul line, going just 2-for-9 from the stripe, and couldn’t overcome 25 points from McMahon’s Khea Gibbs.

Both teams were called for numerous traveling violations and Wurtz, who never seems to get called for travels, turned the ball over multiple times because of extra steps.

O’Brien said both teams had to adapt to an unfamiliar officiating crew and that some officials call the “hop step” that Wurtz uses, and others don’t.

“They had to get used to it, too, so that’s not an excuse,” the coach said, adding that for Wurtz, “It’s something she’s got to adjust to.”

Speaking of adjusting, this was an adjustment season for the Hawks as a whole. Kelley was the lone senior and Wurtz and Doski the only other players who had substantial playing time a year ago. All-in-all, this season was a success given the youth of the team.

“I think two goals that were lofty in the beginning of the year with such a young team and only one senior was to make the [South-West Conference Tournament] and to make the state tournament,” O’Brien said.

Newtown achieved both goals and stands to come back with plenty of experience next season. O’Brien added that his players have plans to play AAU basketball and work hard on conditioning in the off-season. “I think that’s going to be a huge lift for us next season,” O’Brien said.

Newtown will have a lot of talent back, but the one player who will leave a void also happens to be one of the best shooters around. Kelley, the team’s leading scorer, walked off the high school court one last time feeling a sense of team accomplishment despite the outcome of the last game.

“It was such a good year,” Kelley said. “Everyone was kind of iffy about us in the beginning, but we pulled through and we’re a young team. … We did great this season. I’m really proud.”