Nashua South's Nicole De Jesus drives on Keene's Isabell Parham Brown during Friday's Division I clash at the Belanger Gym. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – Hell hath no fury like a Nashua High School South girls basketball team scorned.

You knew someone was going to have to pay for the Panthers’ loss last Sunday to rival North in the Nashua Holiday Tournament. Unfortunately for the Keene Blackbirds, they were next on the schedule on Friday afternoon at the Belanger Gym. It took a half, but the Panthers got in gear and dominated the last 16 minutes for a 60-35 regular season win.

“We were working on this a lot, all practice, and we were focusing on winning and playing together,” said South’s energetic senior guard Nicole De Jesus, who led the Panthers with 18 points and six steals. “We were working on this and didn’t get comfortable.”

“They were hungry this week,” South coach John Bourgeois said. “Whether Sunday happened or not, we had a lot to work on either way. We played together, we were competing in practice all week long and tried to fix the things that lost us the game on Sunday.”

South (4-0, 5-1 overall) and the Blackbirds (3-1) played a close first half, with the Panthers taking a 21-17 lead into the break. But a 3-pointer by Addison Borden followed by a stretch of De Jesus steals and layups ignited a 13-2 South run, and the lead grew to 38-21 and was 45-28 after three. It was basically over.

“Our defense came together for a little bit, but just the pressure got to us,” said Keene assistant coach Jess Houle, who ran the team in the wake of a suspension to head coach Ryan Margaitis after getting ejected from a game in the Oyster River Holiday Tourney last weekend. “They’re quick, they’ve got a good guard. The first half was tight, we adjusted some things to get us through their press but just fell to their pressure.”

Keene was led by Payton Margaitis’ 11 points and a quiet 10 by Harper Zalaski, who came in averaging 25 points a game.

Maggie Gallagher added 12 points to the South cause while Addie Borden and Hailey Cote chipped in with nine each.

Clearly, the final two quarters was the way the Panthers always want to play.The did that during their incredible 33-0 run vs. Alvirne in the Holiday Tourney but got away from it vs. North.

“We needed to keep our urgency,” Bourgeois said. “We knew, we’ve been in this spot before, and needed to make sure we were coming out hot (in the second half). We told the team ‘We’re down 10 right now, mentally. We’re down 10, let’s act like we’re playing from behind.’

“But it’s really player led. We’ve got some great leaders in the locker room, they’re hungry, they get everyone to commit to the energy that we need for this team, and they executed today.”

Keene’s Olivia Rogers (5) and Leta Orciari (14) fight for the ball with Nashua South’s Nitzann Alkalay left, and Nicole De Jesus (0) during Friday’s Division I clash at the Belanger Gym. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

Bourgeois was hoping his team would be focused at practice, but with no school, it was a crapshoot.

“When it’s a holiday break, kids are waking up right before practice, right?” he said. “So you never know what you’re going to get. I was pleasantly surprised how hard they worked.

“We watched a lot of film, we just talked it out, were honest with each other on what we needed to do to improve, and the kids executed. It was great.”