Nashua South's Nicole De Jesus, center; Brooke Berger, and Maggie Galagher, right, follow the deflected ball along eith Salem's Morgann Raskow (20) and Aliana Marshall (3) during Tuesday night's Division I game at the Belanger Gym. (Telegra;ph photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – The Nashua High School South girls basketball team is always looking for a spark to get a win.

Thus they met before Tuesday’s game with Salem at the Belanger Gym with two former Panther champions (the one Nashua), Laura Labrie (formerly Aloisi) and Cassie Loftus.

Whatever advice they got, it must have worked as the Panthers rallied from a 22-17 halftime deficit to pull away from the Blue Devils, 40-33. The win improves South to 7-1 on the season.

What did those Panther teams do? Played tenacious defense. And that’s what South did in the third quarter, holding Salem to just two points while the Panther offense finally got going.

And that was after a first half in which Salem had hit six 3-pointers, three by Morgann Raskow, who had five overall en route to a game-high 17 points.

“We’re lucky to be moving forward with our defense,” South coach John Bourgeois said. “They’re a great young team that can compete and have a lot of talent. So when we make mistakes, we have to find a way to learn from our mistakes quickly, or we’re not going to win games like this.”

It was a turnover-plagued, sloppy game, but the Panthers were able to use that to their advantage, as Olivia DeFrancesco’s runner in the lane with just under two minutes left in the third quarter produced the Blue Devils’ only points in the period. Nashua South led 28-24 heading into the final quarter.

“We kind of shot ourselves in the foot there,” Salem coach Jess Robinson said. “Sloppy turnovers, we got away from kind of what’s worked for us – rebounding hard, valuing possessions, we hadn’t lost the turnover battle all year until tonight. I was pretty disappointed. We’re not a high-powered offensive team, obviously.”

Nicole De Jesus led South with 14 points, but a real key in the second half was Hailey Cote, as she scored nine of her 11 points in the second half. Her bucket off a pretty feed from Lexi Maguire gave the Panthers a 34-26 lead with 4:30 to play, and the closest Salem would get was five the rest of the way.

“I look at my coaching staff every time she makes a shot,” Bourgeois said of Cote, a sophomore. “She just looks so unassuming sometimes, that she comes out of nowhere. But she’s been like that for a long time. People don’t know that, but I’m glad she’s coming out of her shell and hitting those. We have full faith in Hailey this year. She’ll hit them when we need them.”

Nashua South’s Nitzann Akalay, left, and Lexi McGuire surround Salem’s Morgan Raskow during Tuesday’s Division I clash at the Belanger Gym. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

And they needed them last night, especially against a team that likes to create as much court chaos as South does. Maggie Gallagher also helped out with seven.

“We realized early this year that we need to work heavily on fundamentals, on how to play basketball, and we’re working our way there,” Bourgois said. “But when we’re vs. a team that’s a pressing team, we have to find a way to work through that. We’re working our way up and I’m proud of our girls for fighting through.”

A little pregame inspiration didn’t hurt.