Nashua South girls basketball overcomes slow start to beat Winnacunnet

NASHUA - It was a perfect storm of frenzy for the Nashua High School South girls basketball team.

After a week that featured three games - and three losses - plus a snow day and was bereft of practices, the Panthers returned home for senior night Monday against an opponent that was as desperate for a win and came out playing like it.

But after a shaky opening 10 minutes, South ended the first half with a run to take the lead going into the break and held off Winnacunnet in the second half for a 60-43 win in a Division I game that had playoff implications for both teams.

With the win, South (7-10) puts itself in position to clinch a spot in the D1 tournament, which begins March 3, while Winnacunnet (6-11) will need to win its regular-season finale against Alvirne and get some help.

"It felt like we hadn’t had practice since last Monday, and it felt like it was a senior night, and it felt like we just had a rough week last week, and it turned into a game like this," South coach John Bourgeois said. "We’re slow to get into it, not really executing on our details. We’re fouling, we’re letting them get to the basket whenever they want.

"We snapped out of it and started playing together and started focusing on the little things. I’m really proud of them for coming back in a game, where it’s been a little while since we’ve done that."

Nicole De Jesus led the Panthers with 19 points, including four 3-pointers, and Brooke Berger was also in double figures, scoring 11 points with two 3s. Addie Borden added a 3 and finished with nine points while Karina O'Donnell also had two 3s and eight points.

As a team, South hit a dozen 3-pointers but was just 12 of 28 from the free throw line.

The Warriors got 12 points from Kaila Roy while Katelyn Starr finished with eight points and Izabel Turcotte had seven.

A 3-pointer by Turcotte with just under six minutes to play in the first half gave Winnacunnet an 18-9 lead, the Warriors' largest of the game. But O'Donnell answered with a 3 at the other end, starting an 18-5 run for South that saw the Panthers take a 27-23 lead into halftime.

South outscored Winnacunnet 13-3 to open the second half - making it a 31-8 run in all - to take a 40-26 lead.

"They did their game plan, they came up and played hard against us," Winnacunnet coach Brian Gray said. "They pressed hard all game and they were able to get their turnovers off it."

And the Panthers started hitting outside shots, something they weren't doing early against the Warriors' zone defense.

"For a group like this, they need confidence, and it really takes one or two shots to go in for them to see that they can make those shots," Bourgeois said. "It was good for them to finally get a run going."

South led by 12 points going into the fourth quarter, but scored just six points over the final six minutes of the third. That stretch continued to start the final frame and Winnacunnet took advantage, closing the gap to eight points on a putback by Nora Simmons with 5:12 remaining.

A 3-pointer by Maren Lowell put the Panthers back up 11 points and seemed to give them a spark, as South ended the game on a 14-5 run.

"We just needed to stay disciplined to the end," Bourgeois said. "When we came in at halftime, we noticed that (Winnacunnet) was frustrated with our press. We started to get frustrated ourselves and we knew we couldn’t fall for that and we had to stay mentally locked in. The girls were all on the same page with that. They did a good job bouncing back and staying focused."