GameTime CT

Connecticut's premier high school sports website

  • GIRLS SPORTS
    • Basketball
    • Cross Country
    • Field Hockey
    • Golf
    • Gymnastics
    • Hockey
    • Indoor Track
    • Lacrosse
    • Soccer
    • Softball
    • Swimming
    • Tennis
    • Volleyball
    • Track & Field
  • BOYS SPORTS
    • Baseball
    • Basketball
    • Cross Country
    • Football
    • Golf
    • Hockey
    • Indoor Track
    • Lacrosse
    • Soccer
    • Swimming
    • Tennis
    • Track & Field
    • Volleyball
    • Wrestling
  • Schools
  • Newspapers
    • CT Post
    • The Danbury News-Times
    • Greenwich Time
    • The Middletown Press
    • New Haven Register
    • The Norwalk Hour
    • The Register Citizen
    • The Stamford Advocate
  • Polls
    • Baseball Top 10
    • Boys Basketball Top 10
    • Girls Basketball Top 10
    • Football Top 10
    • Hockey Top 10
    • Boys Lacrosse Top 10
    • Softball Top 10
    • Other Polls
  • Scores & Stats
Girls Basketball

Gerace’s free throws seal Newtown’s win over New Fairfield in SWC quarterfinals

Scott Ericson | March 19, 2021

Julia Gerace is congratulated by teammates after sinking a foul shot with 9 seconds remaining to seal Newtown’s SWC quarterfinal victory over New Fairfield (Screen Shot via New Fairfield HS)

NEW FAIRFIELD — Having seen a double-digit lead slowly slip away in the fourth quarter, it was a welcome sight for Newtown coach Jeremy O’Connell to see senior Julia Gerace step to the free-throw line up by two points with 9.9 seconds remaining.

Gerace knocked down both shots from the line, securing a 41-37 win for No. 5 Newtown over No. 4 New Fairfield in the SWC quarterfinals.

Newtown will face No. 1 Notre Dame-Fairfield in the semifinals Tuesday after Notre Dame beat Bethel 60-38 in another quarterfinal.

SWC GIRLS BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT BRACKET

For Gerace, there is no place she would have rather been than on that free-throw line.

“(I was thinking) I’d better not miss this,” Gerace said. “It was a team effort. We practice free throws in practice every day and it’s something I have worked on with my team. I could not have gotten there without my teammates. I am really proud of us, this was a really good win tonight.”

Newtown senior Julia Gerace hit 2 FTs with 9.9 left to seal win for Nighthawks #ctgb pic.twitter.com/hVOPLJJYym

— Scott Ericson (@EricsonSports) March 20, 2021

Gerace and Bella Gerace both led Newtown with 10 points apiece.

After a slow start for both teams with defenses making clean looks at the basket difficult, the score was just 5-4 New Fairfield after one quarter.

The scoring picked up in the second and Newtown took a 19-13 lead into the break.

The Nighthawks would build their lead to as many as 13 points at the end of the third quarter but the Rebels were not going quietly.

After grinding the lead down to single digits, a 3-pointer by junior guard Ava Romanello with 1:37 left cut the Newtown lead down to 34-32.

Romanello had a game-high 15 for the Rebels including two 3s in the fourth quarter, sparking the rally.

A 3 by freshman Jadyn Brenneman with under a minute to play made it 39-38 but the Rebels never grabbed the lead.

New Fairfield had the ball down two with 12 seconds remaining but a turnover at midcourt left the ball in Gerace’s hands, leading to the foul that put her on the line.

“These kids are so tough mentally. We are not the most offensively skilled team that can light up the scoreboard but they showed so much toughness tonight and a ton of fight,” New Fairfield coach Brendan Moore said. “I can’t ask for anything more than how hard they played tonight. They always believed they could crawl back into it.”

PLAYER OF THE GAME

Julia Gerace, Newtown. The senior not only sealed the game with her free throws, but she got things rolling in the second quarter, hitting two 3s and a layup in the quarter.

QUOTABLE

“I am so proud of Julia. She has stepped up above and beyond all season and done all the little things offensively and defensively we needed. She’s been a great senior leader,” O’Connell said. “A lot of these girls have never been on the court in pressure minutes in playoff game against a tough team. Every time we play New Fairfield it’s a great matchup and it’s a grind. Both of our fortes is defense. They play unbelievable defense in that 1-2-2 matchup zone and we’ve hung our hat on our defense the last 11 years.”

SWC QUARTERFINALS

NEWTOWN 41, NEW FAIRFIELD 37

NEWTOWN          4 15 13 9—41
NEW FAIRFIELD 5 8 6 18—37
NEWTOWN: Chloe O’Connell 1 1-1 3; Emma Magazu 2 3-7 8; Julia Gerace 3 2-3 10; Maddie Patrick 3 1-2 7; Allie Bradley 1 1-2 3; Bella Gerace 3 2-5 10; Molly McLeary 0 0-0 0. Totals: 13 10-20 41
NEW FAIRFIELD: Ava Romanello 3 6-7 15; Sydney O’Connor 1 2-4 4; Kelly Ford 2 1-4 5; Lauren Carter 1 0-2 2; Gabby Arterberry1 2-3 4; Colleen Rattigan 1 1-2 4; Jadyn Brenneman 1 0-0 3. Totals: 10 12-23 37
3-point field goals: N—Maguza, J. Gerace 2, B. Gerace 2. NF—Romanello 3, Brenneman, Rattigan
Fouled out: N—Maguza. NF—O’Connor

About Scott Ericson

Scott Ericson is a sports reporter for GameTimeCT based in Stamford. Email him at Sericson@stamfordadvocate.com. You can follow him on Twitter at @ericsonsports.

Newsletter Signup

Don't strike out on CT high school sports news. Sign up for The Whistle newsletter from GametimeCT

You agree to our Terms of Use. Your information will be used as described in our Privacy Policy.

Spring Sports Quick Links

Spring Sports Quick Links

BASEBALL 2021: PRESEASON TOP 10 | PLAYERS TO WATCH | GAMES TO SEE
SOFTBALL 2021: PRESEASON TOP 10 | PLAYERS TO WATCH | GAMES TO SEE
BOYS LACROSSE 2021: PRESEASON TOP 10 | PLAYERS TO WATCH | GAMES TO WATCH
Spring Sports Schedules

Winter 2021 Preview Links

Winter Sports 2021 Links

2021 ALL-STATE TEAMS

CHSCA: GIRLS BASKETBALL | GYMNASTICS | BOYS HOCKEY | CHSGHA: GIRLS HOCKEY

ALL-CONFERENCE TEAMS

BERKSHIRE | CCC | CRAL | CTC | ECC | FCIAC | NCCC | NVL | SCC | SHORELINE | SWC

TeamPlayer Scores and Stats search

Scores and Stats

Video

Podcasts

Fall Sports Quick Links

Fall Sports Quick Links

2021 FOOTBALL COLLEGE RECRUITING LIST
2020 GAMETIMECT ALL-STATE TEAMS
BOYS SOCCER
GIRLS SOCCER
FIELD HOCKEY
GIRLS VOLLEYBALL
BOYS CROSS COUNTRY
GIRLS CROSS COUNTRY
2020 LEAGUE PLAYOFFS:
Central Connecticut
Fairfield County
Shoreline Conference
Southern Connecticut
South-West Conference

Twitter

Tweets

Polls

Sorry, there are no polls available at the moment.
Follow Us
© Copyright 2017 Hearst Media Services Connecticut, LLC