Morgan Gillis, center, and the rest of the Nashua South girls hoop team celebrates Friday night's Battle of the Bridge win at Titans Gym. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – This was her final basketball Battle of the Bridge, and Nashua High School South senior Morgan Gillis had a message for her team before the start of the fourth quarter vs. Nashua North on Friday night.

“I just told the to play 0-0, and have that mindset,” Gillis said. “Honestly, our team has worked so hard and … everything we’ve done has been constant energy, working so hard. That’s what I said to them, ‘Let’s play our game.'”

The Panthers did just that, leading 42-28 after three quarters and Gillis wasn’t going to let them let it slip away. She and sophomore Nicole De Jesus each had 19 points in a 58-42 win.

Their game? Again, a fast, pressing defense, and 3-pointers or drives to the hoop. The one thing the Titans didn’t want to see after the last time they played was a fast South start, but they looked up late in the first quarter to see the Panthers with a 23-7 lead.

“We knew (North) was going to come out with energy,” South coach John Bourgeois said. “Honestly, the players won the game. The girls just wanted it.”

Especially Gillis.

“We’ve seen that all year,” Bourgois said. “It’s every day at practice. Every big game that we’re in, it’s always Morgan that’s making the big play, lifting others up, one of the best leaders I’ve ever had in 11 years of coaching.”

That start made all the difference. South led 25-13 after one and it probably could have been worse, but it was bad enough for 3-6 North. The closest the Titans got was eight points the rest of the way.

“A deep hole, deep hole,” North coach Curt Dutilley said. “They came out making 3’s. The first quarter. And when we came out to get them harder, they were quick on the dribble and were getting by us. You’ve got to be able to continue one or the other. Either you’ve got to take away the perimeter, or you’ve got to be able to take way the 3 or the drive,and we did neither. … you’re in trouble.”

Lilly Small led the Titans with 19 points, but the Titans just couldn’t muster up enough offense. At one point neither team could, as it was 36-26 at halftime but just 42-28 entering the fourth quarter. That’s when Gillis made her speech.

“Senior experience in those games pays off big,” Dutilley said. “You’ve played in three of them already, you’re a little bit calmer than everybody else out there. You play a little bit better, and you should.”

Gillis hit a couple of big buckets that pushed the lead to 15. But a real thorn in the Titans’ side was the play of perhaps the smallest player on the floor, De Jesus, who skied for rebounds and hit a clinching trey with 4:30 left to make it 49-34.

“Nicole is a dog,” Bourgeois said. “She will get on any lose ball, any offensive rebound. She’s competitive. She’ll shoot the 3, and she can make a few.”

Nashua South’s Katrina O’Donnell drives to the hoop; against North’s Nora Ross, left, and Summer St. Pierre during Friday night’s Battle of the Bridge at Titans Gym. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

“It’s not a situation where we should be outrebounded,” Dutilley said “Both teams are equal size. It was just a matter of who’s getting after it the hardest, paying attention and checking off and getting rebounds, and we did not do a good job of that.”

North could have put a dent in the Panther lead a few times, but never did. Some of the flow that South had early on was missing, but the Panthers, now 4-5, persevered.

“Our biggest thing was let’s take the right shots,” Bourgeois said. “A lot of us were forcing shots that really weren’t the best shots. I think they started overthinking at a few points in the game, but luckily we’ve got some competitors on our team and we found a way to win.”

Morgan Gillis made sure of that.

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