BERRIEN SPRINGS – A 10-2 run at the end of the first quarter helped host Berrien Springs win its Wolverine Conference debut Friday night.

The Shamrocks outscored Dowagiac 22-7 in the opening quarter and went on to hand the Chieftains a 54-35 setback.

Dowagiac (0-2, 0-1 West) scored off the opening tip with Crieona Rodgers getting to the hoop to give the Chieftains a 2-0 advantage.

From there it was all Shamrocks through the first quarter and a half.

Berrien Springs (1-1, 1-0 West) scored the next five points, capped by Tyanna Pierce’s basket with 6:24 still to play in the opening quarter.

Dowagiac cut the lead to 5-4 on a basket by Amanda Craft, but the Shamrocks scored 10 of the next 12 points using full-court pressure to take a 22-7 lead at the break.

The run continued into the second quarter as the Shamrocks would score twice more to increase their advantage to 26-7.

First-year Berrien Springs coach Heather Shembarger would shuffle her line-up in the second quarter and it resulted in the Shamrocks to get a bit out of sorts.

As a result, the Chieftains were able to score seven points in the final 1:40 of the first half to cut the lead to 26-14 at halftime.

Rayven Brown hit a 3-pointer with 1:40 showing on the clock to stop Berrien’s streak. Brianna McCuddy capped the small run with a basket with 6.2 remaining in the half.

“We made a lot of changes and we were trying some different things we maybe aren’t as good at,” Shembarger said. “It was a good time to work on those things. I think they came back out the second half back where they started at the beginning of the game.”

The lead quickly grew again as Dowagiac continued to struggle to take care of the basketball in the third quarter.

Berrien Springs held a 14-11 advantage in scoring in the quarter and led 41-25 heading to the final stanza. The Shamrocks this time were able to maintain control of the contest as Shembarger went to her bench once again.

“We started out great,” first-year coach Floyd Foston said. “We ran our jump ball play and scored off of it and I thought we were up to playing tonight. It’s still about execution and getting an understanding of what we are doing. We just have a lot of work to do.”

Gabby Dortch scored nine points and grabbed 10 rebounds for the Shamrocks, who also got nine points from Tashia Powell.

Brown led Dowagiac with 11 points, while Rodgers finished with 10 points.

 

DOWAGIAC 35

Crieona Rodgers 5 0-1 10; Kristyn Turner 1 0-0 2; Jessica Herthoge 2 0-0 4; Kylee Williams 0 0-0 0; Amanda Craft 1 0-0 2; Rayven Brown 3 2-4 11; Angel Parker 0 0-0 0; Riley Daly 0 1-2 1; Jenesis Green 0 0-0 0; Ciera Smith 1 1-2 3; Brianna McCuddy 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 13 6-13 35

BERRIEN SPRINGS 54

Tyanna Pierce 4 0-0 8; Jesse Forraht 3 0-0 6; Stephanie Ott 2 0-0 4; Paige Anderson 0 3-6 3; Makenzie Moody 1 1-4 3; Madison Coultas 3 0-0 7; Tashia Powell 4 1-1 9; Gabby Dortch 4 1-2 9, Genny Westendorp 2 0-0 5; Maria Manzanares 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 23 6-13 54

 

Dowagiac 7 14 24 35

Berrien Springs 22 26 41 54

3-point baskets: Dowagiac 3 (Brown 3), Berrien Springs 2 (Coultas, Westendorp). Total fouls (fouled out): Dowagiac 13 (none), Berrien Springs 14 (none). Dowagiac 0-2, 0-1 West; Berrien Springs 1-1, 1-0 West. JV results: Berrien Springs 48 (Micah Mcree-Davis) 20; Dowagiac 33 (Mara Nelson 12)