Newtown High School’s girls’ basketball team followed up its South-West Conference Tournament preliminary-round win over New Fairfield on February 24 with a 56-43 quarterfinal loss to visiting Kolbe Cathedral of Bridgeport two nights later. The No 4 Nighthawks had defeated Kolbe by 13 points in the regular season, but the No 5 Cougars turned the tables on the Nighthawks with playoff advancement on the line.

The Nighthawks trailed 32-26 at the half and never caught up. Sam Diaspro’s 3-pointer from the left side, which cut a ten-point deficit back to single digits late in the third quarter, was quickly answered by the Cougars with a 3-pointer of their own. Kendal Khazadian responded with a 3 of her own, from the right elbow, and Ana Morris hit two free throws to pull the Nighthawks within 43-38 going to the fourth.

After Kolbe scored the first two points of the fourth, Morris sank a 3 from the right side to make it 45-41. Diaspro’s steal gave the Hawks an opportunity to cut into the deficit, but Kolbe held on the defensive end and built a 49-41 lead. The Nighthawks hung in there. Diaspro was fouled attempting a 3-pointer and hit two of her shots to pull NHS to within a half dozen with 3:33 left. The Hawks, however, were held scoreless the rest of the way and Kolbe sealed the win at the free throw line.

Newtown scored 19 fewer points than it had in the first matchup between the schools thanks, in large part, to hard work and hustle from its opponent.

“Their intensity was pretty much the difference in the game. They were all over us and got after it,” said Newtown Coach Jeremy O’Connell, noting that the Cougars are a well-coached, athletic team.

Too many turnovers and missed defensive assignments also contributed to the setback, said O’Connell, adding that the Nighthawks have struggled in close games during each of the past couple of seasons. That said, the coach was proud of how hard his team competed.

Diaspro scored 11 of her 20 points in the first quarter, including a perfect five for five from the foul line, highlighted by a free throw that capped a 4-point play. It was a 15-15 game after one quarter. When all was said and done, Morris scored a dozen and Madi Weston added six to help lead the offense. Weston had a dozen rebounds to go along with a pair of steals. Morris had seven rebounds and two steals, and Diaspro logged five rebounds and a steal.

The early conference playoff exit is disappointing for the Hawks, especially considering they had winnable late-season setbacks that forced them into needing to win a play-in game and ultimately a tough matchup in the quarters. No 3 Bethel earned its positioning with a regular-season ending overtime victory over the Nighthawks. The other setbacks that stung were an eight-point loss to New Milford which dropped the Hawks from conference unbeaten ranks at the time, as well as a six-point setback to SWC top seed Notre Dame Prep, a contest the Hawks led most of the way.

Time to look ahead to the Division II State Tournament.

“We have to — nothing else we can do. We have to let this bother us tonight and start new tomorrow,” O’Connell said.

The Nighthawks have a tough draw. They are the No 18 seed and scheduled to visit No 15 West Haven, which defeated the Hawks 64-25 in the regular-season finale. Newtown is hopeful to switch around the outcome in the state bracket just as Kolbe did to it in the conference playoffs. The state playoffs are set to begin Saturday, March 7, when the Hawks take on West Haven at 3 pm.

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