Date: Mon 03-Mar-1997

Author: KIMH

Illustration: I

Full Text:

Middle School Boys Basketball

It was a fast-paced shootout and John Fiscella had both guns blazin'.

Fiscella canned 32 points, including four three-point field goals, to lead the

Newtown Middle School boys' basketball team to a fast and furious 81-69 win

over Rogers Park of Danbury.

While Fiscella was torching the nylon, Matt Saunders added 15 points of his

own and handled the ball well against a tough Rogers Park press. Andrew Smith

tossed in nine points and dished off eight assists while running the Newtown

offense. Jeff Walcott and Nick Savino scored seven points each. Walcott

grabbed 10 boards while Fiscella had six and Chris Lyddy had four. Dave

Roodhuyzen, Andrew Smith and Savino grabbed two steals each.

Smith dished off six assists while Roodhuyzen and Savino had four apiece.

Fiscella collected three.

The win pushed Newtown's final record to 13-4, which does not include five

wins in a pre-season tournament. It does, however, include last week's 67-34

punishment of New Fairfield.

In that game, the Lions jumped out to an early 17-4 advantage because of a

tough pressure defense. The Lions never looked back as 16 different players

got into the scoring column . . . led by Fiscella with 12 and followed by

Chris Lyddy with eight, John Pantan with nine, and Matt Saunders and Ryan

Walker with seven each.

Lyddy and Walker combined for 15 boards. Walker also contributed five steals

while Fiscella, Roodhuyzen, Grant Putnam and Smith had four steals each.

Girls End Up 12-2

Despite a tough 46-41 loss to New Fairfield last week, the Newtown Middle

School girls' basketball team finished up a strong season on an even stronger

note, clubbing Rogers Park, 49-28.

The win pushed the Lady Lions to 12-2 on the season, not including five

pre-season wins and two wins and the championship at the annual Chalk Hill

Tournament in Monroe.

Against Rogers Park, Jayme Beckham scored 11 points, Laurie Miller added

eight, and Ally Gellert and Mary Bell contributed six apiece. Beckham, Bell,

Lauren Adamek and Miller combined for 20 boards, but it was Amanda Marsilio

who paced the team off the glass with eight boards.

Gellert and Kate Bouteiller grabbed five steals apiece while Jessica Oswald,

who scored four points, picked up four steals of her own.

The team, meanwhile, collected 28 steals on the afternoon.

Colleen Davis, meanwhile, sank the team's only three-pointer of the year.

Christina Wickson, Becky McCullough, Morgan Haines and Erin Saunders also got

into the scoring column while Carrie Young and Jen Knapp played strong on

defense. Against New Fairfield, Beckham led the way with 10 points. Marsilio

added nine and Miller tossed in eight. Gellert tossed in six points while

Davis had four and Oswald and Bouteiller had two apiece.

Marsilio grabbed 12 rebounds while Beckham and Davis combined for 13 boards.

Miller and Adamek combined for seven boards.

Bouteiller grabbed six steals while Beckham and Gellert had four each.