Girls basketball: Nighthawks strike early

Written by Rocco Valluzzo
Friday, 30 December 2011 10:23

Playing catch-up in the second half put some extra pressure on the Weston High girls varsity basketball team in its two most recent games.

In both cases the Trojans fell behind early, only to have to try to make up the deficit later. By then their opponents were too far out of reach.

The Trojans got off to a slow start offensively when they visited Newtown last Tuesday, Dec. 20. The defending South-West Conference champion Nighthawks, on the other hand, had little difficulty in finding the basket en route to winning 68-45.

A balanced scoring effort put Newtown in command early as five different players scored in the first quarter. Defensively, it held Weston to eight points, half of which were scored by Ellie Martin as the visitors trailed 18-8.

The Nighthawks also caused the Trojans some difficulty in the next frame behind a 21-point effort by the former. Martin and Anna Mahony accounted for Weston’s only points as Weston trailed 39-16 at halftime.

While the Trojans did fare better early in the second half Newtown had already built a sizable lead by then. Morgan Moubayed stepped up in the scoring department with a seven-point effort in the third quarter yet her team trailed 59-27.

By the time the final quarter arrived Newtown made frequent substitutions with its entire team getting playing time. Led by Martin’s 11-point effort the Trojans outscored their opponent by a 2-1 margin in the last frame but to no avail.

She led all scorers with 23 points. Moubayed also scored in double digits with 12. Mahony sank six while Lindsay Koch and Kristin Caolo had two apiece.

Friday’s game against Bunnell was actually a rematch of the season-opener. Unfortunately for Weston the result was the same. Unable to erase an early deficit, it fell 46-36 in its first home game of the season.

“We certainly have to play better in the first half,” said Weston head coach Dan Rosen. “It was almost a repeat of the first game.”

Ball handling presented some difficulty, as Rosen estimated his team committed 14 or 15 turnovers in the first half. Weston also had a hard time scoring, in the first quarter, mustering only two points. Led by senior center Shaquira Palmer’s nine-point effort, the Bulldogs led 14-2 at the end of the period

Mahony turned out to be the bright spot for Weston in the first half, scoring nearly all of its points during that time. But Bunnell’s press continued to cause the Trojans problems as they trailed 26-9 at halftime.

Bunnell stretched the lead to 19 points (32-13) with less than three minutes to go in the third quarter before the Trojans began to cut into the lead with Martin, Moubayed and Mahony all sinking shots. They became a threat in the last frame and with the help of three-point shots by Taylor Swanson and Lianna Hursh cut the lead to six (42-36) with a minute left to play.

With time running out, Weston was forced to foul to stop the clock and the Bulldogs hit four three throws to protect their lead.

Mahony led Weston with 18 points. Rosen estimated she could have had 30 if she had hit more lay-ups.

Swanson and Hursh scored seven and six, respectively, each with a three-pointer. Martin scored five.

Weston, now 0-4, hosts Granby Memorial today (Thursday) at 7 p.m. and is at Oxford on Monday, also at 7.