Nashua South's Brooke Berger stands alone at halfcourt moments after the Panthers fell 35-27 to Exeter in the Division I quarterfinals at the Belanger Gym on Friday night. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – They came out from their postgame meeting back into the Belanger Gym, to loud applause from the fans who were waiting.

It was fitting. To be sure, what the Nashua High School South girls basketball team accomplished – the best season in the school’s history at 16-4 – wasn’t lost in the emotions of a crushing 35-27 Division I quarterfinal loss at the Belanger Gym to the No. 5 Blue Hawks of Exeter.

“It’s all players, the players did that,” South coach John Bourgeois said. “They all bought in, they all executed, they all played for each other, it was one thousand for the players making the season what it was.”

But they just didn’t get the ending they wanted, as 27 points is not enough to win a tournament game, including when it’s only nine in the second half. South went into the locker room up 18-12 on the now-15-5 Blue Hawks, who will take on No. 1 Concord Christian in the semis on Monday night in Portsmouth.

“That can’t win any game scoring 27 points,” Bourgeois said. “We had a tough second half there. Really proud of the girls for fighting, especially through adversity … The last couple of weeks we’ve been dealing with a lot.”

South last night was without key sophomore forward Anya Challinger (concussion) and Addie Borden (knee), and both were missed. Senior leader Nicole De Jesus had 14 points and junior Maggie Gallagher had 12 to form a solid one-two punch, but South got only one more point. Exeter, meanwhile, put four in the scoring column, led by Jessica Melick with 13 and Lexi Rogers with 10. Nicole Melick added eight.

“I think we came out of our halftime a little more energetic,” Exeter coach Kaylene Rogers said. “We started a little slow. Nerves. Everyone came out in the second half and played the game the way we wanted to play the game.”

Which was get the ball inside, with constant movement. Jess Melick hit a runner to give the Blue Hawks a 24-22 lead with 1:56 left in the third quarter, after which Exeter led 26-22, and the Blue Hawks never lost the lead thereafter.

The killer was a 3-pointer by Nicole Melick with 6:19 to play that opened up a 29-22 Exeter lead. The closest South would get was six points the rest of the way.

“She (Nicole Melik) had a fantastic game,” Rogers said. “We took advantage of our cuts, we took advantage of our height, which is Jess, and really made a team effort to make it all work together. We haven’t been to the Final Four in a long time.”

And South’s wait continues, as things just didn’t click over the final 16 minutes. The Panthers, who had three 3-pointers in the final two minutes of their prelim round win over Pinkerton on Monday, had just one last night the entire contest, simply ice cold from the perimeter. Still, the they felt good up six at the half, but knew there was more to do.

“We knew it was going to take four quarters to win the game,” Bourgeois said. “We just didn’t have it.”

Nashua South’s Nicole De Jesus (0) fights for the ball in the crowd during Friday night’s Divison I quarterfinal vs. Exeter at the Belanger Gym. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

De Jesus had 11 points in the first half, including nine in the opening quarter, but managed just three the rest of the way, as Exeter made stopping her and Gallagher priority No. 1 in the second half.

“Obviously (De Jesus) is a fantastic player,” Rogers said. “And we just made sure we were on Nicole the whole game as well as (Gallagher). … It definitely made a difference in the change-up in the second half … We were going to play straight-up defense as much as we could and see who would come out at the end.”

And that was the Blue Hawks, creating a sad end to an otherwise great season for the Panthers.

“It just wasn’t our night,” Bourgeois said, repeating words from assistant coach Ciki McIntire, “and it happened to be in a really important game.”