English girls come from behind, then hold on to defeat Swampscott

SWAMPSCOTT ? After a mad dash in the fourth quarter, where English’s girls basketball team scored twice as many points as Swampscott (14-7), the Bulldogs pulled off a thrilling 60-58 win in overtime to remain the only team in the Northeastern Conference with an undefeated league record.”This was our program’s biggest win in four years,” English coach Fred Hogan said. “We had some extra motivation, because all we heard from everyone was that we weren’t going to be able come here and beat Swampscott. We just took a huge step in taking the NEC title.”The Big Blue (9-1, 6-1) led for the majority of the game. In fact, after going on an extended scoring run, the Blue enjoyed a game-high 10-point lead (43-33) with only 1:51 remaining in the third quarter. Tara Nimkar spearheaded the run, scoring eight of her 22 points in the third quarter. She also pulled down 13 rebounds. Kara Gilberg also played a major role on the run. She finished with 12 points.”It was a good battle,” Swampscott coach Jack Hughes said. “There were two real-good teams out there.”After Nimkar’s run, her counterpart, Jeanette Anderson, slowly began to take over the game. Anderson scored a game-high 23 points, while pulling down 19 rebounds. Kayla Murkison finished with seven points, and hit some key field goals down the stretch to force overtime, including an acrobatic layup while she was fouled, with the majority of her body out of bounds.Jenicia Duggins also had a monster game for English. Swampscott had no answer for her slashing to the hoop. She finished with 16 points.The Bulldogs (9-1, 7-0) carried the momentum into overtime, led by Anderson. At one point, English even led by six points. However, Marissa Gambale showed an unbelievable amount of poise to keep the Big Blue’s chances alive. Gambale hit a clutch three and a pair of free throws, while forcing two turnovers in the final minute to put the Big Blue in a position to tie the game.”We got a little lackadaisical in our own zone at the end of overtime,” said Hogan.Ally Beaulieu had a chance to tie the game at the free-throw line with two seconds remaining.However, her first shot clanked off of the rim which precluded any chance of a second overtime.”It’s tough,” said Hughes. “She is such a great player. Things like this happen.”A couple of players in Swampscott’s frontcourt got into early foul trouble, with Tara Gallagher eventually fouling out with only four points. This gave freshman Niki Laskaris an opportunity to get some valuable minutes.”We’re not a very big team to begin with,” said Hughes. “Niki (Laskaris) did a nice job in there. She isn’t used to playing kids that are that strong.”Despite struggling from the line, Olivia Dupree had a strong night for the Bulldogs. She pulled down 10 rebounds to go along with her four points.