Nashua South's Anya Challinger hugs teammate Nicole De Jesus as they celebrate the Panthers' Battle of the Bridge win over Nashua North Friday night at Titans Gym. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – It was chaos beating control.

Chaos is exactly what the Nashua High School South girls basketball team likes to create do disrupt the opposition. Control is what the host Titans of Nashua North enjoy with crisp offensive flow.

But they could never get that established as the Panthers made the plays and hit their free throws down the stretch to pull away for a 50-40 win in the Battle of the Bridge.

“We’ve been waiting to build some momentum on offense,” South coach John Bourgeois said, his team now 9-1. “They’ve been doing a good job executing things and all we need to do is not turn the ball over, and when we have open shots, shoot with confidence. I felt we hit some big shots tonight. … The more disciplined team won.”

“We lost our rhythm at like the five minute mark of the second quarter,” North coach Curt Dutilley said after his 6-3 team’s six game winning streak came to and end. “And then everything was like one or two clicks too fast at that point and never quite geared back down.”

After jumping out to a 9-2 start, North had to settle for just a 24-23 lead at the half and things were back and forth in the third quarter before South’s Anya Challinger went on her own personal 7-0 run as she hit a 3-pointer to put South up for good at 32-31, then added a pair of layups that gave the Panthers a 36-32 lead to take into the final eight minutes.

“I tried to do it so I could get my teammates back into the game,” Challinger said. “We had that confidence. We felt connected … We blocked everything out and played together as a team.”

“Challinger’s a nice addition, huh?” Bourgeois said of the sophomore. “She’s a great player but even more than that than I’m proud of is that she’s an excellent teammate. Her leadership shows and she helps us in more ways than just scoring.”

An Addie Borden 3-pointer gave the Panthers a 39-32 early in the fourth but of course it was still only a a 42-40 South lead with 2:07 left after North’s Alaina Small hit a layup. But the Titans couldn’t get any more offense and the Panthers made them pay by hitting eight straight free throws to seal the deal.

Nashua North’s Alaina Small (14) and South’s Brooke Berger compete for the ball during Friday night’s Battle of the Bridge at Titans Gym. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

The Titans were led by the Small sisters as freshman Alaina had 17 points and junior Lily had 13.

But 16 points 16 minutes wasn’t going to be good enough. South’s defense kept North sharpshooter Angie King off the board as well.

“They did a real good job of denying Angie the ball all night long,” Dutilley said. “We had four or five rushed shots on the second quarter, and if you don’t recover from that mindset, then it’s not an efficient offense at that point. A tremendous learning experience. A great crowd, big game, we’ve got two freshmen and sophomores out there who now know what a playoff game feels like. That’s all good.”

“We had a lot of confidence at halftime,” Bourgeois said, “that we’d be able to build momentum.”