BENTON HARBOR — The Dowagiac girls basketball team held host Benton Harbor to seven points through the first three quarters in its 48-16 Lakeland Conference victory Friday night.

The Chieftain, playing its third game of the week, scored enough points to beat the Tigers early in the second quarter after taking a 16-2 lead after the opening eight minutes of play.

Dowagiac extended its advantage to 32-5 by halftime and 45-7 heading into the fourth quarter. Most of the second half was played with a running clock.

Maggie Weller, who was held to three points on Monday by No. 7-ranked Kalamazoo Christian, had her second consecutive big game as she led all scorers with 19 points for the Chieftains. Weller had 25 points in Dowagiac’s win over Our Lady of the Lake Wednesday night.

Dowagiac also got 10 points from Rebecca Guernsey and eight points from Audrey Johnson.

Javie Swift had 11 points for Benton Harbor.

The Chieftains are now 8-4 overall and 3-2 in the Lakeland Conference heading into it non-conference home game against former Wolverine Conference foe Three Rivers Tuesday night. Dowagiac will follow that up with a Lakeland Conference game against No. 2-ranked Brandywine at home on Friday night. The Bobcats are currently 13-0 and sit atop the league standings.

Boys Basketball

For one quarter Friday night, Dowagiac kept pace with No. 3-ranked (Division 2) Benton Harbor in its Lakeland Conference contest.

The Tigers, who are 18-0 overall and 7-0 in conference play, led the Chieftains just 15-10.

Benton Harbor held Dowagiac to nine points in the second quarter while scoring 19 of its own to break the game open. The Tigers led 34-19 at halftime. Benton Harbor outscored Dowagiac 40-18 in the second half to turn the game into a rout.

Dowagiac (6-9, 2-4 Lakeland) got six points each from Jamal Williams, Braylon Wade and Brayden Diaz. Gianni Villalobos, the Chieftains’ leading scorer, was held to four points.

Josiah King had a game-high 17 points to lead the Tigers, who also got 11 points from Antwan Callahan. Javon Mason and Kesean Hobbs both scored 10 points.

Dowagiac will kick off a busy week by hosting Three Rivers Tuesday night. Dowagiac also travels to Bridgman for a non-conference game Wednesday before hosting No. 2 ranked (Division 3) Brandywine in a Lakeland Conference contest Friday.