By beating the Nighthawks 47-42 at Bunnell High, Masuk gave coach Dave Strong his 600th career victory and 19th league title in 28 years at the helm.

"In retrospect, it's nice," Strong said of the milestone, "but the important thing about tonight is the league championship."

The third-seeded Panthers (21-2) clearly earned the right to wear this crown. Their three tournament games were decided by a combined nine points, including a 67-65 semifinal victory against Notre Dame-Fairfield in double overtime.

"And that speaks to the kids' poise," said Strong, who in addition to being modest is the winningest girls basketball coach in state history.

Masuk, which defeated Newtown in double overtime to win the 2001-02 final, has now beaten the Nighthawks seven consecutive times, three of those coming this season.

The outcome was still in doubt when Newtown's Kelley Haines made a steal and went coast-to-coast for a layup that sliced the Panthers' lead to 39-36 with 5:50 remaining in the game.

But the Nighthawks (18-5) would endure a scoring drought that lasted more than four minutes, while crafty 5-foot-6 senior Michelle Martinik made a timely hook shot in the lane for Masuk and teammate Kellye Caufield delivered a basket down low.

The seven-point deficit with 2:45 left proved too much for Newtown to overcome.--photo1L--

Martinik, a Southern Connecticut State recruit, finished with a game-high 15 points, six rebounds and the most valuable player award.

"I'd vote her MVP in the state," Newtown coach Tim Salem said. "She makes everybody on that team better. When there's a big play to be made, she makes it."

Said Martinik: "I think we just really played well as a team and it really came together. Newtown-Masuk is always so much of a rivalry and we always pump ourselves up for it."

Newtown led 10-4 at the outset before the Panthers closed out the first quarter with 10 unanswered points to seize a 14-10 advantage.

The Nighthawks played from behind the rest of the way and never got untracked offensively. Despite a height advantage, they missed numerous close-range shots in the paint and wound up making only 17-of-46 field goal attempts (37 percent) against Masuk's man-to-man after going 9-of-18 in the first half.

"I think we played very good defense in the half-court," Strong said.

On two occasions in the fourth quarter, Newtown grabbed three offensive rebounds during a sequence, yet failed to convert the putbacks.

"We just missed a lot of opportunities," Salem said. "The ball just didn't go in."

Masuk was 9-of-19 in the second half and finished 19-of-43 (44 percent).

"It's not like we played our best game," said Strong. "We played just well enough to win."

Masuk senior point guard Brittany Tartaglia, who suffered through a shooting slump much of the season, contributed 10 points, including a pair of 3-pointers. Unheralded junior forward Caufield also had 10, while center Barb Bria scored eight.

"They do a really good job of executing their offense," Salem said. "That's the best I've seen them shoot. Part of our plan was to try to squeeze the post on them but they hit shots."

"We didn't do nearly as good of a job boxing out," he added. "We gave up a lot of second shots.

Haines, a University of New Hampshire signee, paced Newtown with 14 points on 5-of-16 shooting from the field.

Junior forwards Ashley LaRocque and Katie O'Connor added 10 points apiece. For O'Connor, it was a career high.

Masuk had seized a 23-14 lead with less than four minutes remaining in the first half when LaRocque brought the Nighthawks back in contention. She nailed four consecutive shots - three from the perimeter - in a two-minute span to pull her team within 24-22.

The Panthers led 26-23 at halftime and 37-31 after three periods.

NOTES: The All-Tournament included Newtown's Haines and LaRocque; Masuk's Tartaglia and Caufield; Kolbe's Erica Beverly and Notre Dame's Michele Mihalov.

Newtown (18-4)�10 13 8 11 - 42

Masuk (20-2)�14 12 11 10 - 47

NEWTOWN (42): Julie Iwanicki 1 0-0 2, Jacky Curran 0 0-0 0, Carly Curran 0 0-0 0, Stephanie Logan 2 2-2 6, Ashley LaRocque 5 0-0 10, Siobhan Cooper 0 0-0 0, Kelley Haines 5 4-5 14, Katie O'Connor 4 2-2 10. TOTALS: 17 8-9 42.

MASUK (47): Brittany Tartaglia 3 2-2 10, Jessica Kramer 0 0-0 0, Alexis Bates 0 0-0 0, Barb Bria 4 0-1 8, Kellye Caufield 5 0-0 10, Michelle Martinik 5 3-5 15, Amy Corchard 2 0-0 4. TOTALS: 19 5-8 47.

3-POINT GOALS: Martinik (M) 2, Tartaglia (M) 2.