Newtown pulls away from Bethel to win SWC championship

SOUTHBURY — Help! Yes, it’s a Beatles hit song, but also the credo of the 2018-19 SWC champion Newtown High School girls basketball team.

That’s help, as in help defense. The Nighthawks have made it their signature characteristic this season and used it to near perfection Thursday in the SWC final, beating Bethel 52-32 to earn their first conference title in eight years.

“Each girl bought into our great help defense,” Newtown coach Jeremy O’Connell said after the triumph at Pomperaug High School. “All year they played great defense and that was our focus in order to get to this spot.”

No. 2 seed Newtown (20-3) allowed 81 points in three playoff games to win its third SWC championship. How good was the defense against fourth seed Bethel, which shocked No. 1 Notre Dame of Fairfield 45-31 on Monday? The Wildcats (17-6) were forced into 15 first-half turnovers (22 overall) when they were able to attempt just 12 field goals (made five).

“The difference (between beating ND and Thursday)? It’s two different teams,” Bethel coach Anderson Rawlins said. “Newtown held us to 32 points, played great defense just like they did in their two other playoff games. It was two different styles. Newtown is a great team, a great DEFENSIVE team.”

2019 SWC Girls Basketball Tournament Bracket

A key defensive star was Nicole DaPra, who is usually one of the Nighthawks best shooters. DaPra (11 points) only made three field goals, but earned MVP honors because of a great defensive effort against Bethel’s 6-foot-3 center Maranda Nyborg.

Uh, make that great “help” defense.

“Everyone was helping me against (Nyborg),” DaPra said. “We kept helping each other. There was a ton of effort from everybody in all three playoff games.”

Bethel took a 9-5 lead after one quarter before the Nighthawks’ suffocating defense kicked in. Newtown outscored Bethel 11-1 in the second quarter to take a 16-10 halftime lead. The game was never close again.

“(DaPra) is such a smart player, she does everything well,” O’Connell said. “But she got a lot of help on defense tonight.”

Nyborg (14 points), with at least a six-inch advantage over DaPra or any other Nighthawk, was never much of a factor on offense, with two baskets while making 10 of 11 free throws. She had nine of her 10 rebounds in the first half.

Bethel made just 7 of 28 shots from the field (3 for 19 in the final three quarters) and had more possessions without a shot than with.

“We knew we had to to force them to take bad shots,” DaPra said.

Amy Carpenter, the star of Newtown’s semifinal win over Kolbe, had 13 points while Cyleigh Wilson also had 13. Jackie Matthews added seven rebounds for the Newtown.

Ruby Ackerman had five rebounds for Bethel.

PLAYER OF THE GAME

While Amy Sapenter and Cyleigh Wilson each scored 13 points, it was Nicole DaPra who scored 11 points while holding Bethel’s 6-3 center Maranda Nyborg to just two field goals, who earned MVP honors.

QUOTABLE

“(After winning the SWC title in 2011) I forgot how hard it is to get here; then we had another day of waiting with snow on Wednesday,” — Newtown coach Jeremy O’Connell.

SWC Girls Basketball Championship

NEWTOWN 52, BETHEL 32

BETHEL (32)

Mia Prazeres 0 1-2 1; Vicky Gracy 3 1-2 8; Brooke Lacey 0 0-0 0; Gabriella Me4ndonca 2 2-2 7; Maranda Nyborg 2 10-11 14; Becky Men 0 0-0 0; Tara Donohue 0 0-2 0; Ruby Ackerman 0 0-0 0; Giuliana Meglio 0 0-0 0; Emma Roe 0 2-2 2. TOTALS: 7-28 16-21 32

NEWTOWN (52)

Amy Sapenter 5 2-2 13; Cyleigh Wilson 5 0-0 13; Carlie Smith 2 0-0 6; Jackie Matthews 2 0-0 4; Nicole DaPra 3 4-5 11; Cailin Wilson 0 2-2 2; Emma Magazu 1 0-0 2; Rebecca Alicea 0 0-0 0; Shea Murphy 0 1-2 1; Sarah Nowacki 0 0-0 0; Carolina Stubbs 0 0-0 0; Juliette Cyder 0 0-0 0; Julia Gerace 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 18-42 9-11 52

BETHEL 9 1 8 14 —32
NEWTOWN 5 11 15 21 — 52

3-pointers: B — Gracy, Mendonca. N — Cy.Wilson 3, Smith 2, Sapenter, DaPra. Records: B 17-6, N 20-3