By SCOTT NOVAK
Dowagiac Daily News

It was over quickly.
The Dowagiac girls’ basketball team scored the first 20 points of its Wolverine Conference game Tuesday night and rolled to a 57-16 victory that snapped a six-game losing streak.

The Chieftains led 20-2 after the first quarter and never looked back.

Senior Torie Lowe fired in 11 of her game-high 23 points in the opening quarter, including a trio of 3-pointers.

Lowe finished with six triples on the night.

Things didn’t get much better for the Lady Rams in the second quarter as they scored just two more points and trailed 34-4 at the break.

Dowagiac coach Dick O’Day went to his bench at the end of the first quarter and continued to substitute freely in the second period.

The Chieftains tossed in 13 more points in the third quarter to extend their lead to 47-8.

In the final stanza, Dowagiac’s lead topped 40 points and the game went to a running clock for the final six-plus minutes of the contest.

Besides Lowe’s total, Dowagiac also got 10 points from Katie Lorenz in her season debut. Lorenz is a transfer from Portage Northern.

Kaisha Martin finished with six points, and Andrea Bradshaw played her best game of the season with five points off the bench.

Tonie Brown scored six points to pace South Haven.

“We were blessed tonight to be able to bounce back off of two hard losses over the weekend,” O’Day said. “I thought the girls stayed focused. We got off to a great start tonight. That has been our problem the whole season. We get down six or eight points in that first quarter and we’re struggling. Tonight Torie took off and it was great. We went from there. I thought they played unselfish too.

“The poor girl has been here to every practice and sat on the bench every game since Nov. 9 and finally got a chance to play. She did an outstanding job. I’m very proud of her,” he added.

SOUTH HAVEN 16
Caprice Johnson 0 0-0 0; Christina Pignozzi 0 4-5 4; Haley Bierhalter 1 0-0 2; Tonie Brown 0 0-0 0; Brianne Hooper 0 0-0 0; Jocelyn VanWynen 0 0-0 0; Christina Alayon 0 2-3 2; Emily Edwards 1 0-0 2; Nakia Hobbs 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 5 6-8 16
DOWAGIAC 57
Cierra Mattix 0 0-2 0; Correshia Rodgers 0 3-8 3; Marcie Ennesser 0 0-0 0; Torie Lowe 8 1-3 23; Kaisha Martin 3 0-2 6; Andrea Bradshaw 1 3-5 5; Katie Lorenz 4 0-0 10; Britnee Allerton 0 3-4 3; Breneesha Jones 1 1-4 3; Bobbie Payne 1 0-0 2; Cassie Stone 1 0-0 2. TOTALS: 19 11-28 57

South Haven 2 4 8 16
Dowagiac 20 34 47 57
3-point baskets: South Haven 0, Dowagiac 8 (Lowe 6, Lorenz 2). Total fouls: South Haven 20, Dowagiac 14. Fouled out: Pignozzi (SH). Varsity record: Dowagiac 3-6, 3-5 Wolverine