English powers past Peabody

LYNN – The English girls basketball team made school history Tuesday night, capturing its third straight Northeastern Conference/North championship after defeating Peabody, 54-37.?No practice (today),” said coach Fred Hogan. “There?s no school, and we won the league. So they get a day off.”The Bulldogs won with none of their three standouts having what you?d call a hot shooting night. Deidra Newson (18 points), Catherine Stinson (13) and Diondra Woumn (12) all reached double figures, but as a team, the Bulldogs were off.?Yeah, it wasn?t a great shooting night,” Hogan said, “but the defensive intensity was there from the opening tap. Newson and (Makayla) Everette did a great job on the boards.?We?re not going to win the Division 1 North title without playing great defense,” Hogan said, “so I was happy with what I saw there. This is the most focused team I?ve ever coached. These girls get it.”Even if the shooting was off for the most part, Peabody coach Jane Heil still marveled at the ones that went in.?They are awesome,” said Heil, who has a lot on her mind these days as her husband, Bob, who has served as an assistant coach for her for many years, is recuperating at Beverly Hospital after having surgery. “They put up shots I?d never dream of putting up. I?d bench people for putting up those shots … but they go in.?There isn?t much you can say,” said Heil. “That?s a great team, and they?re having fun. Which is nice to see.”English smothered the Tanners (10-4) from stem to stern, but the price the Bulldogs paid came in long stretches where shots just wouldn?t fall. They held Peabody to only three points in the first quarter, but only scored 11 themselves.English pulled away in the second quarter, though, and led at the break, 29-11.Heil told Hogan at the beginning of the third quarter that she wanted her starters to play, and Hogan left his starters in the game through the middle of the fourth quarter. It seemed to work out for both sides.?We haven?t played more than three quarters in a lot of our games,” said Hogan, “but at the same time, I wasn?t going to have someone turn an ankle with a 25-point lead, so I subbed late in the game.”After scoring only 11 points in the first two quarters, Peabody turned it up a notch in the second half as Carolyn Scacchi, held to four points in the first 16 minutes, ended up scoring 20 for the game.?We were a little more active in the second half,” said Heil. “We gave it the best shot we could.”English raised its record to 16-0 (the Bulldogs play 22 games this year, and count them all). They have Northeastern Conference games left against Beverly (Friday), Classical and Revere and a non-leaguer against Arlington Catholic before finishing the season playing in the St. Mary?s Spartan Classic, where they could tangle with fellow Division 1 North power Masconomet if both teams win their preliminary-round games.