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# Nashua North girls basketball hangs on to beat Nashua South
- URL: https://www.nh-highschoolsports.com/nashua-north-girls-basketball-hangs-on-to-beat-nashua-south/
- Published: 2025-02-01T16:15:25.000Z
- Updated: 2025-02-01T16:15:25.000Z
- Description: NASHUA - Curt Dutilley knew that his Nashua High School North girls basketball team was going to have problems Friday against Nashua South's full-court press. The Titans coach told his players the Panthers were going to force them into turnovers, but what was important was what they did after those
- Author: Joe Marchilena
- Tags: Division I, girls basketball, Nashua North, Nashua South, slider, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-08-18 04:44

NASHUA - Curt Dutilley knew that his Nashua High School North girls basketball team was going to have problems Friday against Nashua South's full-court press.

The Titans coach told his players the Panthers were going to force them into turnovers, but what was important was what they did after those miscues.

North found ways to make up for enough of those plays, getting out to an early lead before holding off South late, as the Titans knocked off the Panthers 42-39 in the annual Battle of the Bridge at South's Belanger Gymnasium.

"We’re finally seeing really good maturity from the group," Dutilley said. "We talked for two days, there’s going to be turnovers. I think they have the best man-to-man press in the division. The pressure is constant.

"You’re going to make mistakes against it, but if you can mentally rebound in the next second and go to your next job, everything will take care of itself. You can’t get wrapped up against this team worrying about any mistakes you made. They’re going to happen."

North finished with 23 turnovers, 10 more than South, but the Titans (7-4) made up for it by outrebounding the Panthers on both ends of the floor. None were bigger than a rebound by Lillian Small off a missed free throw by teammate Madelyn Tino with under 40 seconds to play.

Tino had made the first attempt to give the Titans a 38-35 lead, but when the freshman missed the second, Small was there to clean up the boards and was fouled. The sophomore then hit both free throws to make it a five-point game with 37.7 second left.

South's Nicole De Jesus scored quickly at the other end to make it a three-point game, and after North's Angela King missed a pair of free throws with 18 seconds left, De Jesus had a chance to tie the game with a 3\. The attempt was short and the Titans grabbed the rebound, leading to two made free throw by Tino to put the game away.

"She’s probably our best free throw shooter, too, so I had a pretty high level of confidence going into that," Dutilley said of Tino. "I think she was a little rattled earlier when she picked up her fourth foul and we had to put her on the bench. She’s used to playing 31 minutes and I think she got a little shook up by that."

Small finished with 13 points to lead North while Tino was 8 of 9 at the free throw line and had 10 points. As a team, the Titans were 10 of 15 from the line, while the Panthers were just 3 of 14.

Addie Borden had 12 points on four 3-pointers to lead South (6-6) while Brooke Berger added nine points and De Jesus had eight.

"In many ways, we beat ourselves," South coach John Bourgeois said. "Credit to North for winning that game, but when we needed some big plays in big moments, we just didn’t have it. I don’t think we took advantage of some opportunities we had.

"Opportunities were there, we just couldn’t play together as a group. We let it get the best of us and we couldn’t snap out of it."

Down 17-9 at the end of the first quarter, South cut the lead down to five at halftime, but a quick start to the second half saw North go up 29-22\. Both went scoreless for almost three minutes before the Panthers scored seven straight to tie the game at 29.

A late field goal gave the Titans a 31-29 lead going into the fourth but a drive and basket by Berger tied the game early in the final quarter. The Panthers forced a turnover after the basket, but couldn't take advantage, and back-to-back putbacks by the Titans put them back up by four points, 35-31.

"It never felt like we were out of control," Dutilley said. "We just continued to be patient. That’s why I’m so proud of the girls. In the past, they’ve gotten overworked up about this game. We don’t play in front of a full house every night. For a lot of them, it’s the first go-round and I’m proud of how they handled it."