LYNN – It was a tale of two halves for the Lynn English girls basketball team on Tuesday at the Paul F. Cavanagh Field House against Danvers.For the first 16 minutes, the Falcons outrebounded and squarely outplayed one of the top teams in the Northeastern Conference. But in the second half, English became, well, English.The Bulldogs (13-1, 11-0 NEC North) got six three-pointers and a game-high 20 points from LaShaunda Hogan and 16 points and 22 rebounds from Jeanette Anderson to help overcome Danvers, 61-60. The Bulldogs host Salem Friday for the NEC North championship. Anderson stands 23 points from 1,000 for her career.”We’ve never been in this position before,” English coach Fred Hogan said. “We’re the big dogs in the league right now and everyone is coming in and giving us their best shot.”Pat Veilleux’s Falcons led most of the way and had a chance to steal away the win in the final seconds but English’s defense forced a tough shot by Joanna Zecha that was no good with five seconds left.”I can’t find anything wrong with what the girls did (Tuesday),” Veilleux said. “That’s one of the best teams in the league and we had a shot to win it at the end. That’s all we could ask.”Danvers led by three at the end of the first quarter and opened the gap to 29-17 with five minutes left in the half. But Hogan hit three consecutive threes (she connected on five overall in the half) and Duggins added six points to cut the gap to 39-32 at the half.”LaShaunda really kept us in the game,” Hogan said. “And that’s what we expect. We need other players to step up in big situations.”The teams traded baskets early in the third quarter before English finally started to play its fast-tempo type of basketball.Trailing 45-38, Jenicia Duggins and Miranda Hogan hit the Bulldogs’ sixth and seventh threes of the game to cut the lead to a point. Hogan added another three following a Kellie McDonald basket to draw the teams even at 47-47.The Falcons would carry a 51-49 lead into the fourth quarter thanks to a pair of Sarah Palazola free throws. Palazola finished with a team-high 16 for Danvers.”McDonald and Sarah really gave us great games,” Veilleux said.Palazola scored early in the fourth quarter to give the Falcons a 53-49 lead and a chance to pull the upset. But Anderson erased that notion as she was fouled on a rebound and cut the lead to 53-51.Olivia Dupree’s putback with 5:45 left knotted things at 53 before LaShaunda Hogan hit her sixth trey of the game to put English in front for the first time since a 14-13 lead in the first quarter.”In the second half, we got back to playing Lynn English basketball,” Hogan said.Duggins scored on a layup to make it 58-55, but Erica Veilleux came right back with a foul-line jumper for the Falcons.An Anderson basket made it 60-57 with 2:16 left. But the Falcons’ Bailey Potter’s jumper with 1:30 to go tied the game at 60-60.Then, Anderson hit one of two free throws with 32.8 seconds left to make it 61-60 before the Bulldogs’ swarming defense forced Zecha into a challenged shot as time ticked down. Anderson was fouled with 2.1 seconds left and missed the front end of a 1-and-1 situation, but Danvers couldn’t get off a final shot.”We got a shot at the end, but it wasn’t the one we were looking for,” Veilleux said.