Girls Basketball: English uses big second half to fend off Somerville

It was a clash of two top 25 teams in the state with English defeating Somerville at home 56-31 on Thursday night.It was a 21-15 lead for English at the end of the first half. The Bulldogs’ Jenicia Duggins carried the scoring load in the first half with 17 points. The Bulldogs outscored Somerville by 19 in the second half. Duggins nearly recorded a quadruple-double with 25 points, seven rebounds, six assists and seven steals. English coach Fred Hogan was very happy with the win.”It is always good when you can win a big game like this over a top 25 team in the state,” Hogan said.English (9-1) will try to carry this momentum against Saugus Friday night.Tech 41, Rockport 22At Rockport, Tech jumped out to a big lead and never looked back. Tech outscored Rockport 15-0 in the first quarter and at one point was up 24-0 in the first half. Octavia Harper fueled this big run recording a near triple-double: 13 points, 22 rebounds, and eight steals. Jenna Kulakowski had a strong performance with 12 points. Fanice Jean-Baptiste helped chip in as well with 11 points. Tech coach Kevin McDormand was happy with Harper’s and the rest of his team’s performance.”Octavia had a Bill Russell-like performance today. I wish I could say I came up with a brilliant scheme to help us win, but it was really my team playing incredible,” McDormand said.Tech moves its winning streak to three games and its record to 3-7.Medford 53, Saugus 38At Saugus, the Sachems were not able to overcome the three-point onslaught by Medford. Medford outscored Saugus 21-6 from the three-point line, which was the difference in the game. The Sachems had strong performances from Allyssa Furtado (a season-high 13 points) and Gabby Cogliano (nine points, seven rebounds). Saugus (1-8) plays English Friday night.