By Kim J. Harmon

Through the years, the Lady Nighthawks have certainly discovered that the road to success is paved with a quite a few speed bumps.

Just four years ago, in 1995-96, the Lady Nighthawks lost their star center, Liz Glaser, for eight games yet still managed to put together a 14-game winning streak, finish 15-2 in the South-West Conference and 18-6 overall, earning a trip to the SWC championship game.

Now four years later, the Lady Nighthawks are once again without a star center – this time for the entire season – but nevertheless, like 1995-96, have found themselves equipped to travel on that bumpy road.

With a 57-18 hammering of Weston on Friday night, the Lady Nighthawks pushed their record to 4-0 and seemed in good position – with games against Kolbe-Cathedral (after press time) and Joel Barlow pending – to start the season at 6-0 for the first time since the 1993-94 season.

An Explosive Start

The Lady Nighthawks have discovered something pretty fundamental in the first four games of the season.

They can play defense.

They can run the floor.

They can shoot.

And on top of that, there is not a player on the team – not in the starting lineup and not on the bench – that is not a threat to score with the basketball in her hands. That has made the ‘Hawks a difficult team to defense and an even more difficult team to slow down.

Weston discovered that last Friday night when the Lady Nighthawks all but ran the Lady Trojans over, 57-18.

Kate Ryan scored eight points in the first quarter – one bucket from the outside, one from the baseline, one from the paint and two from the free throw line – as the ‘Hawks exploded for 16 points in the initial eight minutes.

Of course, a lot of that had to do with the defense. Once again, head coach Gregg Simon waited a few minutes before slamming on the press and, when he did, the Lady Trojans found themselves not only throwing the ball away, but trailing the Newtown fast break down to the other end of the floor.

Four different players scored for Newtown in the first quarter and a fifth – Lauren Adamek – entered the scoring column with a free throw in the early stages of the second quarter which gave Newtown a 17-4 lead. Then Mary Bell scored her first bucket in the low box, off a feed from Jayme Beckham, to put Newtown ahead 19-4.

Ally Gellert, Lori Iwanicki and Jessica Oswald also joined the fun in the second quarter, but it was Bell who shined the most in the period with seven points. For Oswald, hampered with back problems early, it was her first basket of the season and it pretty much got her into the zone as she finished the game with 10 points.

Newtown led Weston 34-8 at the half, the final four points coming directly off steals (the first by Iwanicki and the second by Bell).

The Lady Trojans put up a little fuss to start the third quarter, but Newtown went on an 11-0 tear to finish out the period with a 49-12 lead. Lisa Masella scored eight points in the period and finished the game with 12. Ryan, meanwhile, had another bucket and two assists to fuel the offense.

In the fourth, it was Oswald hitting the only three field goals for Newtown with Iwanicki and Beckham each canning a free throw.

All nine players got into the scoring column, from Masella with 12 points right down to Adamek with one point.

WESTON (18): Roehm 1 2-2-4, Wihelmy 3 0-1 6, Wesit 1 0-0 2, Hironaka 0 0-0 0, Sussman 0 2-3 2, Hester 2 0-1 4, Dowdle 0 0-0 0, Williams 0 0-0 0. Totals: 7 4-7 18.

NEWTOWN (57): Beckham 1 5-10 7, Ryan 4 2-2 10, Masella 6 0-1 12, Gellert 1 1-2 3, Haines 1 0-0 2, Iwanicki 2 1-2 5, Adanek 0 1-2 1, Bell 3 1-2 7, Oswald 5 0-0 10. Totals: 23 11-21 57.

Weston      2     6     4   6 - 18

Newtown  16   18   15   8 - 57

Three-point field goals: none