Three-pointers lift English to victory

PEABODY ? There may have been a couple of snowstorms during the past week, but last night in Peabody it was raining — as in 3-pointers.The Lynn English girls basketball team connected for nine 3-pointers — including four from Deidra Newson and three from Catherine Stinson — to help the Bulldogs win a 52-36 early-season showdown with Peabody, Friday night, at Peabody High.Newson led English (2-0) with 17 points, while Stinson had 12 and Diondra Woumn added nine. Caroline Scacchi paced Peabody (1-1) with 13 points, while Courtney Bua added eight and freshman Melissa Gray chipped in with seven.?These girls are trying to win three (Northeastern Conference) titles in a row,” English coach Fred Hogan said. “It’s a big win for us.”English led for almost the entire game, but Peabody closed within two points (24-22) in the first minute of the second half. The Bulldogs then stepped up their full court pressure and ripped off a 10-0 run to take command. The Tanners never got closer than eight points the rest of the way.?They do such a good job with the press, and they have more than one press,” Peabody coach Jane Heil said. “When you get used to breaking one, they show you another.”When Peabody managed to break the press and get the ball into the offensive end, the Tanners were still harried by English’s pace. Heil lamented a slew of missed layups and open shots that doomed Peabody.?When you get a good look at the basket, they still force you to rush because of their quickness,” she said. “You know they’re coming.”Trailing, 6-5, English went on its first big run — a 13-0 spurt to close the first quarter. Stinson hit a pair of threes off the glass and Newson added a 3-pointer from the left wing while the Tanners were unable to score for the last 3:40 of the period.The Bulldogs bulked up the lead to 11 when Stinson glassed in another three and made a free throw, but Gray sparked an 8-2 run for the Tanners that helped get them to within five (24-19) at halftime.When Bua hit a 3-pointer to open the third quarter, Hogan told his troops during a timeout to turn up the defense.?We weren’t playing with enough intensity,” he said.Newson started the decisive run with a couple of 3-pointers, and another Newson three from the right wing opened the lead to 37-25, with 5:04 left in the third quarter. Both Newson and Stinson picked up their third fouls in the next minute and had to sit, and Peabody made its last run behind Scacchi, who scored five straight points to close the gap to eight (39-31) at the end of the third quarter.Woumn opened the final period with a couple of buckets to boost the lead back into double figures, and her 3-pointer from the left wing gave the Bulldogs a commanding 48-35 lead with 4:20 to play.