Newtown tops Bethel

NEWTOWN — The quality of the opposition hasn’t changed, and neither has the result.

The Newtown girls basketball team continues to line up against quality squads, and the Nighthawks continue to deliver.

Hot shooting late after a defensive struggle led to a comfortable conclusion as Newtown toppled Bethel 49-30 to remain undefeated against in-state teams this year. Carlie Smith scored 16 points to lead Newtown.

“We rebounded, ran and finished,” said Nighthawks junior Cyleigh Wilson. “We spread the floor on offense and made cuts to get open; we stuck to what we do.”

A daunting early-season schedule hasn’t led to any setbacks for the Nighthawks (9-1), who continue to get contributions from almost the entire roster.

“You never know what’s going to happen so these kids work hard in practice,” Newtown coach Jeremy O’Connell said. “Sometimes they might play 30 seconds, sometimes they might play

20 minutes. Every kid needs to be ready because you don’t know what’s going to happen or what the situation is.”

A defensive struggle against the tough Wildcats meant Newtown led just

31-26 early in the fourth

quarter. After struggling to hit shots in the first 24 minutes, the Nighthawks finally began connecting from outside. Back-to-back triples from Shea Murphy and Cailin Wilson pushed the lead to double digits.

Bethel led 9-7 in the first quarter before a late 3 gave Newtown the advantage for good. Maranda Nyborg had 13 for Bethel while Vicky

Gracy had 10.

STARLESS

The Nighthawks are ranked No. 6 in the latest GameTimeCT/Register Top 10 Poll and have risen despite the lack of a traditional go-to scorer. All five can hurt defenses at any given time depending on the matchup, and depth has worn teams down at the end of games.

“If we can get 10, 11, 12 kids in quality time it’s only going to help us in the end,” O’Connell said. “Most teams focus on Nicki (DaPra), but we have six other kids who can get double figures if we really need it.”

PLAYER OF THE GAME

Carlie Smith, Newtown: Buried three 3-pointers to help ignite the Nighthawks’ offense.

QUOTABLE

“It felt really good (to beat Bethel),” Wilson said. “I hadn’t beat them since I’ve been here so it felt nice to get a team win.” NEWTOWN 49, BETHEL 30 BETHEL (4-5): Mia Prazeres 0 1-2 1 Vicky Gracy

3 3-5 10 Brooke Lacey 1 1-2 4 Gabi Mendonca 1

0-0 2 Maranda Nyborg 3 7-10 13. Totals: 8

12-19 30.

NEWTOWN (9-1): Amy Sapenter 4 0-2 10 Cyleigh Wilson 1 0-0 3 Carlie Smith 6 1-2 16 Juliette Cryder 2 2-3 6 Jackie Matthews 1 0-0 2 Nicki DaPra 2 2-2 6 Shea Murphy 2 0-0 6. Totals:

18 5-9 49.

BETHEL ................................... 9 6 8 7 — 30 NEWTOWN ............................. 10 12 9 18 — 49

3-pointers: B--Gracy, Lacey; N--Sapenter 2, Wilson, Smith 3, Murphy 2.