live Needham during Monday night's Division I clash at the Belanger Gym. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – They could see their Division I tourney hopes slipping away on Monday night, so the Nashua High School girls basketball team decided to do something about it.

They trailed the Warriors of Winnacunnet 11-3 and 18-9 in the first half. Then suddenly the Panthers went on an 18-5 run to grab a 27-23 halftime lead and never looked back en route to a 60-43 win over the equally desperate Warriors.

“We definitely came out a little bit slower than we should have,” senior Karina O’Donnell, who along with fellow senior Maren Lowell celebrated Senior Night in style. “We’ve had a crazy week, we haven’t practiced since last Monday. So just getting back out here we had to be like ‘Come on guys, let’s go.'”

And that’s what they did. Lexi McGuire’s 3-pointer — one of a whopping 12 the team had on the night — in the final seconds of the half was a spark, and then the Panthers, paced by Nicole De Jesus’ 19 points, went on a 13-3 run to start the third quarter for a 40-26 lead.

The win snaps a five-game losing streak and puts the Panthers at 7-10, while the Warriors are 6-11. Both were bubble teams, but now the Panthers have a foot in the tourney door. They have one last regular season game, but not until next Tuesday at non-tourney team Concord.

“It might have been a game where we could’ve been kicked out of the playoffs,” South coach John Bourgeois said. “…We talked about it before the game, we knew our playoff situation. And that’s one of the goals, we want to make the playoffs…A sense of urgency for sure.”

The Panthers, who also got 11 points from Brooke Berger, nine from Addie Borden and eight from O’Donnell. Winnacunnet, which cut the margin to eight a couple of times in the fourth quarter, the last at 51-43 with just under three minutes to play, was led by Kaila Roy’s 12 points.

“At the end of the day, they did their game plan, came up and played hard against us, they pressed all game and were able to get the turnovers off of it, kudos to them,” Warriors coach Brian Gray said of the Panthers. “I’m proud of the girls. We were picked dead last and were one game away from securing ourselves in. If we win this game we’re there.”

Instead, De Jesus hit a 3-pointer (she had four) with 1:18 to play that made it 54-43 and Berger did the same with 48 seconds left. The Panthers’ nightmarish stretch was over and they could finally celebrate a win.

“I think we just wanted it more,” said Bourgeois, his team overcoming a tough 12-for-28 night at the foul line. “We had a five-game losing streak … I think the girls just came together and really wanted to win for each other and they did that.”

In the final half minute, O’Donnell and Lowell left the floor and embraced, knowing this was likely their final game at the Belanger (South probably will be a road team if in).

“Sometimes it just takes one big shot or one big rebound and we were able to get on runs with that,” Bourgeois said. “It was good to see that, and I’m happy for our seniors.”

Especially since they should have more than just one game left to play.