Nashua South girls basketball uses run in 3rd quarter to get past Keene (video)

NASHUA - John Bourgeois had a situation that he wanted his Nashua High School South girls basketball team to imagine going into the second half of Friday's game against Keene.

The Panthers coach told his players to play like they were down by 10 points to the Blackbirds, rather than up by four through two quarters.

South wasted no time erasing that imaginary deficit, while in reality, the Panthers took control of the game, opening the third quarter on a 15-2 run that helped propel them past Keene for a 60-35 win in a Division I contest at the Belanger Gymnasium at Nashua South.

Nicole De Jesus scored seven points for South during that run and finished with a game-high 18 points to lead the Panthers (4-0 in D1). Maggie Gallagher scored eight of her 12 points in the first half and helped keep Keene's Harper Zalaski in check for most of the game.

Addie Borden and Hailey Cote each added nine points, as they both hit three 3-pointers for South, which took the lead early only to see Keene go on a run to take the lead early in the second quarter.

After a back-and-forth second, the Panthers took a 21-17 lead into halftime, but Bourgeois didn't want his players to lose their sense of urgency.

“We know we’ve been in this spot before, that we need to make sure that we’re coming out hot,” Bourgeois said of the message at halftime. “We told them, we’re down 10 points right now, mentally. Let’s act like we’re playing from behind. We have great leaders in the locker room. They’re hungry. They get everyone into the energy that we needed and they executed (Friday).”

Gallagher opened the third quarter with a basket and the Panthers took advantage of three straight turnovers by the Blackbirds to stretch the lead to 29-17. After a basket by Izzy Payne got Keene (3-1) on the board in the second half, De Jesus scored five straight points and Nitzann Alkalay (seven points) scored to cap a 15-2 run for South.

“It felt like we rushed,” Keene assistant coach Jess Houle said. “It was just us taking care of the ball that really kind of got to us. When we broke the press, and we were on our side (of the court), I think we rushed our offense. Their pressure got to us and it made us think that we needed to rush.”

Payton Margaitis led Keene with 11 points while Zalaski scored 10 points and Payne and Lena Wiegers each added five.

South got out to a 7-2 lead in the first four minutes, but Keene answered by outscoring the Panthers 7-1 to take a 9-8 lead early in the second quarter. Baskets by Gallagher and De Jesus put South back in front and the pair scored again midway through the quarter to five the Panthers a 16-11 lead.

Four straight points for Keene cut the lead to one before a 3-pointer by Cote and a basket by De Jesus with seven seconds left in the half gave South a four-point lead.

The Panthers wasted no time getting the lead up to double digits in the third quarter and outscored the Blackbirds 24-11 in the frame to take a 45-28 lead into the fourth.

“They’re a very good team,” Bourgeois said of Keene. “We knew that they were going to have a run at some point. We knew we had a good team in front of us and it was a good battle for a while.”