Nashua North's Lilly Small, center, puts up a shot against Nashua South's Addison Borden (4) and Karina O'Donnell during Friday night's Battle of the Bridge at the Belanger Gym. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – Just how big was the Nashua High School North girls basketball team’s 42-37 Battle of the Bridge win over Nashua South on Friday?

“Humongous,” Titans coach Curt Dutilley said. “It gives us a fighting chance at a home playoff game. We’ve got to continue to play well, we’ve got to win more games, but that is absolutely huge in the standings.”

The Titans are now 7-4, and riding a five-game win streak going into Tuesday’s game at Alvirne. Meanwhile, the Panthers saw their two-game win streak snapped to fall to 6-6 with the beast of Division I, Bedford, visiting the Belanger on Tuesday.

But last night, it was still anybody’s game, tied at 31 early in the fourth quarter. The Titans led 17-9 after one but South chipped away to 23-18 at the half and then 31-29 after three.

But after Addison Borden (team high 12 points) tied it at 31, North’s Lilly Small (game high 13 points) got a big offensive putback to give North a 33-31 lead with 5:53 left. Shortly after, Titan Nora Ross did the same thing to make it 35-31 and the Titans never trailed the rest of the way.

“I think in many ways we beat ourselves today,” South coach John Bourgeois said. “Obviously credit to North for winning that game, but when we needed some big plays in big moments we just didn’t have it today.”

Not that the Panthers didn’t have their chances. Standout guard Nicole De Jesus was in foul trouble much of the night and ended up with just eight points, but her tenacity was still a thorn in the Titans’ side. With the score 40-37, she had a chance to tie it with a 3-pointer inside of 15 seconds but it fell short. Titan freshman Madelyn Tino, who also battled foul trouble in the second half, hit two big free throws with eight seconds left to make it a two-score game and ice it. She finished with 11.

“I don’t think we took advantage of our opportunities,” Bourgeois said. “The opportunities were there, we couldn’t play together as a group. We let it get the best of us, and we couldn’t snap out of it.”

Brooke Berger added nine for the Panthers. Titans Tino and Small (sophomore) are underclassmen, but you wouldn’t have known it last night.

“It never felt like we were out of control,” Dutilley said. “It just felt like, continue to be patient. That’s why I’m so proud of the girls, the mental patience.

“In the past, they used to get so worked up about this game. We don’t play in front of a full house every night, obviously. We don’t even play in anything close to a full house. So for a lot of them, that’s the first go-round, I’m really proud how they handled it.”

“It’s big,” Tino said. “We really wanted this win.”

And much to the Panthers’ chagrin, Tino and the Titans got it.