Milford girls come back late again to beat Nashua North to win Nashua Holiday Basketball Tournament title (video)

NASHUA – The Milford High School girls basketball team has come a long way in just a couple of years, and this week at the Nashua Holiday Basketball Tournament, the Spartans was just another example of that progress.

For the second day in a row, Milford trailed for more than 30 minutes, but hung around and found a way to pull out a win.

Against Nashua North in Thursday’s championship game, the Spartans ended on a 9-0 run, holding the Titans scoreless for the final four minutes for a 38-34 victory to win the NHBT title at Nashua High School South.

Like it did on Wednesday against South, Milford trailed the whole way through, going down by as many as eight points in the third quarter, but took the lead in the final two minutes.

“We put in a lot of hard work,” Milford senior Bailey Johnson said. “I think when we realize we’re losing, we just need to get into that mindset that we need to pick it up. We just showed that we wanted to win this tournament. We played against some adversity that we usually haven’t won against ever.”

Avery Fuller and Shea Hansen each had eight points to lead the Spartans, while Lulu Maguire had seven points and Johnson added six. Hansen hit a pair of free throws with 1:59 left to make it a one-point game, and Fuller followed with a steal and basket in transition to give Milford its first lead with 1:52 remaining.

“The defense really pulled it out for us,” Milford coach Mike Davidson said. “We put a lot of pressure on them, forced them into some mistakes. We just needed to play more disciplined defense and that’s eventually what helped.”

The Titans had 14 turnovers in the second half, half of which came in the final four minutes, and North got into foul trouble early, putting Milford in the bonus in the third quarter. The Spartans made it count, going 8 of 12 at the line in the second half.

“Fouls and turnovers,” North coach Curt Dutilley said of what hurt his team. “We couldn’t play as hard on defense. We picked up way too many fouls early in the third. We started looking down the lineup, three here, four there, three there. It was too many, too much reaching.”

Aidan Walker led North with 14 points, including two 3-pointers in the first half, while Natalee McInerney and Grace Cardin each added six points. But with the Titans in foul trouble, and with the Spartans upping the pressure on defense, North scored just 10 points in the second half and Walker fouled out on the call that sent Hansen to the line late.

“(Walker) was our press breaker,” Dutilley said. “Some of the other younger players, kind of their first time in that moment. When she went out, it forced themselves into spots that were difficult to get out of and Milford did a good job.”

North jumped out to a 6-0 lead to start the game, but Milford cut the lead to one, 13-12, by the end of the first quarter. The Titans were able to create separation late in the second quarter, taking a 24-18 lead into halftime, and they stretched it to an eight-point lead in the first minute of the third.

The lead was seven after Angela King hit a 3-pointer just 24 seconds into the fourth, but the Titans would score just two points the rest of the way and Milford was able to come back for the win.

“It’s character-building games,” Davidson said. “It doesn’t matter who the opponent is, when you’re faced with those late-game situations, and you find a way like that, you stay calm, cool, collected, it’s going to help down the road.

“It’s moments like we had (Wednesday) and (Thursday) that are going to help us down the road. I believe the more of those situations you’ll face, the better you’ll be the next time.”

Nashua South 42, Souhegan 19

The Panthers won the consolation game of the tournament, going up 14-3 in the first quarter and never looking back.

Morgan Gillis hit two 3-pointers, as she and Ella Karavanic each had a game-high 10 points, while Maizie Barker added nine and Karina O’Donnell chipped in with six.

Souhegan didn’t score more than seven points in any corner, as Kate Canavan, Zofia Rosenfield and Mishka Tower each had four points.