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01/30/2023 10:18 AMIt is often the fear of the unknown that comes into play when a team is going through a transition period, especially when that transition involves a first-year head coach.
The North Haven girls’ basketball team and Head Coach Jessica Neuweiler have embraced this challenge, sitting at an 11-4 record so far this season.
Aside from Neuweiler, who is in her first season coaching the team, Paul Olivea and Caroline Lacy also sit on the sideline as assistant coaches.
The Nighthawks compete in the Southern Connecticut Conference (SCC) in the Housatonic Division, in which they compete against Hand, Guilford, Branford, and Shelton.
Despite the challenging schedule that comes with their division, the 16 players on the Nighthawks roster are confident in their abilities, and Neuweiler feels that her lone senior captain, Julia Ball, has helped fuel that confidence and leadership among the squad.
“I try to empower our players to be leaders. We have one senior captain, Julia, and I think her strength is that she leads by example,” said Coach Neuweiler. “We try to hold our players accountable and to be leaders on and off the floor.”
A few notable wins for North Haven were on Jan. 11, where they defeated the Amistad Wolves by a score of 74-28, and on Jan. 13, when they beat the Branford Hornets 70-42. They currently sit in second place in the Housatonic Division, with a division record of 3-1.
Besides Ball, another player who has been a major contributor on offense this season has been freshman Sammi Santacroce.
“Sammi has stepped into the varsity level as a starting point guard since day one and has adapted to that position well. She has set the pace for us, manages the game for us on the floor,” said Coach Neuweiler. “She is a completely unselfish player, has an unbelievable court vision, and has an excellent outside shot; an all-around great player for us.”
Junior forward Ava Johnson has played a large part on both offense and defense for the Nighthawks.
“Ava is someone who starts for us and has done a fantastic job for us offensively and defensively,” said Neuweiler. “She has become someone we look for in a scoring capacity for us on our team.”
Although there have been a few specific standouts this campaign, a variety of players have shown their skills and played a factor in the Nighthawks riding on the winning side.
“Whether it be defensively, rebounds, we are seeing Damaria Williams-Davis the last few games,” said Neuweiler. “She has had breakout games where she is scoring offensively. She also had seven rebounds against Bristol Central.”
Junior center Ava Halovatch has also been a big court presence this season.
“Ava just has a presence about her on the floor; she is a very unselfish player,” said Neuweiler. “She is someone who, ball goes into the basket, she’ll kick it out for her teammates when they are open. I think that we just have a well-rounded team; those players that I mentioned, they contributed in various different ways.”
Although the Nighthawks only have 11 players that suit up for varsity games, Neuweiler was sure to acknowledge the junior varsity (JV) girls and how they’ve contributed to the team’s overall success.
“JV players primarily deserve credit, too; they are at practice every single day helping us to get better,” said Neuweiler. “The thing that I really love right now is seeing where we are as a program, just being over that midway point, that we are seeing improvement. I think, especially at the JV level, for us, that’s really important to see because those players are the future of our program. We like to look at both levels as one complete program, and it’s nice to see all of our players having a successful season.”
On Jan. 24, the Nighthawks played against the Guilford Grizzlies, winning by a score of 60-41. Johnson decorated the scoreboard in the contest with 12 points, six rebounds, seven assists, and four steals. Ball also added 26 points.
The remaining schedule for the regular season for the Nighthawks includes a mix of teams they’ve beaten and teams they’ve found struggles with. Neuweiler hopes the girls can continue to show improvement and find ways to win in the second half.
“For us, as we head into the back half of the season, our goal is to continue to evolve and get better every day,” Neuweiler said. “We are seeing teams on our schedule now that we have already seen, those of which we have seen success with, and some of which we haven’t. For us, we want to look at those games that we did not win and try to find opportunities of what we could have done differently, and how do we approach it better going into the second time around.”
Foran and Hand, currently the number two team in the state, are both teams that the Nighthawks look forward to on the remaining schedule.
“We need to stay focused and continue to work hard. Teams, now that we have already played once, they know what our style is, so we have to be sharper,” said Neuweiler. “Foran, who beat us, we are looking forward to that game [so] that maybe we can beat them on the road. Hand is the second team in the state, so we look forward to having them for our last home game of the year.”
Senior night for the Nighthawks will be on Friday, Jan. 27, against the Cheshire Rams.
The Nighthawks roster includes Ball, Julia Cannon (senior, guard), Zaria Bradley (junior, guard), Alyssa Collins (junior, guard), Johnson, Halovatch, Ava Papa (junior, guard), Damaria, Olivia Ball (sophomore, guard), Christa Colonis (sophomore, forward), Brooke LaPierre (sophomore, point guard), Kendall Washington (sophomore, center), Santacroce, Ella Couture (freshman, forward), and Alivia Garnett (freshman, guard).