By Kim J. Harmon

It was a tough, tough test of South-West Conference girls’ basketball and, unfortunately for Newtown and its efforts to escape a pretty sluggish week, it was Bunnell High School which had all the answers.

Such as . . .

. . . when Ally Gellert opened the game with a three-pointer from the far corner, Bunnell answered with an 11-0 run.

. . . when Jayme Beckham canned a spot up jumper to open the third period and trim their deficit to just six points, Bunnell answered with a three-pointer and a 12-4 run.

. . . when Gellert hit another three pointer in the third period to trim the deficit back to six points, Bunnell answered right back with a three-pointer of its own.

. . . and when Lori Iwanicki dropped in a short fourth-quarter basket (after the ‘Hawks pulled down three straight offensive rebounds) to trim the deficit back down to five points, Bunnell answered with a 11-3 run.

 

Yes, Bunnell had all the answers – all the right answers – and the Lady Bulldogs passed the test with a convincing 64-47 win over the Nighthawks on Tuesday night.

The loss, which came after an uninspired 39-26 win over Immaculate on Friday in Danbury, dropped the Nighthawks to 13-3 on the season and 9-3 in the SWC.

The Nighthawks – who, coach Gregg Simon lamented, hadn’t put together two good halves of basketball in a long, long time – were looking to play with some energy after that sluggish win over the Lady Mustangs.

And the ‘Hawks seemed to have found that energy in the early seconds when Gellert stepped into the corner and dropped in a three-pointer to give Newtown a 3-0 lead.

But the Lady Bulldogs shot the ball well, moved the ball well, and had a huge presence in the middle in Mercedes Walker and soon enough had an 11-3 lead. That soon transformed into a 15-5 lead by the end of the first quarter and a 25-9 lead midway through the second period.

What saved the Nighthawks from early obliteration was the efforts of freshman Kelley Haines. Haines had already hit a pair of foul shots at the start of the second quarter, but in the latter stages hit a pair of three-pointers (almost from the same exact spot) and then a short jumper in the paint to help the ‘Hawks trim that 16-point deficit down to just eight at the half, 27-19.

Haines had 10 points in that 10-2 run and finished with 11 for the game.

Then at the start of the third quarter, Beckham hit her spot up jumper to cut the Bunnell lead to six – only to see the Lady Bulldogs answer back with a three-pointer and an eventual 12-4 run that gave Bunnell a 39-25 lead.

But the ‘Hawks, never out, started crawling back again and after Beckham hit a roller in the lane and then another roller in the lane (with a foul shot) and Gellert banged another three from the corner had cut that Bunnell lead right back to six, 39-33.

Gellert later added another bucket while Haines and Lisa Masella chipped in with foul shots, but by the close of the third quarter the Lady Bulldogs held on to a seven-point lead, 44-37.

Iwanicki would get the ‘Hawks as close as they would get the rest of the game when she hit a short jumper at the start of the fourth quarter. It came after three consecutive offensive rebounds and trimmed the Bunnell lead to 44-39.

But things unraveled after that.

Unraveled big time.

Iwanicki, Amanda Marsilio and Gellert had the only baskets from the field for the ‘Hawks as the Lady Bulldogs went on a 20-8 run (11 of those 20 points coming in garbage time at the foul line) to close out the quarter.

And when the final horn sounded, the ‘Hawks were left with a humbling 64-47 loss. The Lady Bulldogs raised their own record to 11-4 overall and 8-3 in the SWC.

In the win over Immaculate, Marsilio had 10 points while Masella finished up with nine Iwanicki had eight and Gellert chipped in with seven. The ‘Hawks had just a 6-4 lead at the end of one quarter, a 16-10 lead at the half, and a 24-18 lead at the end of three periods before finally spreading it out a little.

The ‘Hawks will have a week to figure out how to change their fortunes because on Tuesday they will face another tough SWC test in the form of the Bethel Wildcats.

Jayvees 16-0

The jayvee Nighthawks raised their own record to 16-0 this past week with wins over Immaculate (58-25) and Bunnell (56-22).

In the win over Immaculate, Kelley Haines canned 11 points and Stephanie Logan added 10 while Tori Filler tossed in seven and Erin Murdoch, Julie Iwanicki and Shannon Kohn chipped in with six apiece. Filler, Monica Cluff and Haines comined for 11 rebounds while Iwanicki and Haines combined to make eight steals. Filler dished off three assists.

In the win over Bunnell, Iwanicki and Logan tossed in 10 points apiece while Haines finished with nine, Filler finished with eight, and Kohn finished with seven. Filler also grabbed eight rebounds while Logan and Murdoch combined for eight more. Haines and Iwanicki combined to make seven steals to key the defense.