By By SCOTT NOVAK / Dowagiac Daily News
Welcome back.
Dowagiac senior Holly Lowe came off the bench after missing the last three games tand scored 15 points to help lead Dowagiac to a 77-69 Wolverine Conference victory over visiting Plainwell Tuesday night.
Lowe hit four 3-pointers as the Chieftains maintained a share of first place with the win over the Lady Trojans. Dowagiac is now 12-3 in the league, tied for first with Otsego, a winner at Vicksburg on Tuesday.
The win also avenged a 66-51 loss to Plainwell back in September.
In a fast-paced, high-octane game, Dowagiac rolled to a 45-35 halftime lead.
The Lady Trojans cut the lead to six points midway through the third quarter only to have the Chieftains go on a 12-0 run.
"Holly played well," Dowagiac coach Greg Blomgren said. "She missed the last three and that gave her legs back. She was pretty fluid tonight."
In the first meeting between the Chieftains and Lady Trojans, Dowagiac committed 32 turnovers. Plainwell went on a 19-0 run in the second quarter, which led to the easy victory.
And, like the first game when the Chieftains made the game interesting in the final quarter, the Lady Trojans cut into the Dowagiac lead heading down the stretch.
Dowagiac took a 61-47 advantage into the final eight minutes before Plainwell stormed back.
The Lady Trojans cut the Chieftains' lead to 70-62 with just under a minute to play.
Dowagiac was strong at the free throw line in the final quarter, hitting nine out of 10 attempts in the final 1:03 to seal the victory.
Plainwell coach Bob Byington said that he was surprised that Lowe played in the game and that his team didn't get out to defend her shots quick enough.
"It took us a while to realize she was there," he said.
Byington also noted that he told his team at halftime that Dowagiac couldn't shoot the ball any better than it did in the first half and to keep playing hard.
That's exactly what the Lady Trojans did too.
The Chieftains were red-hot from the field in the opening 16 minutes. Dowagiac was 17-of-33 (52 percent) from the field, including seven 3-pointers.
Dowagiac did cool off in the second half, hitting just 9-of-29 (31 percent) from the floor, but was 12-of-15 from the free throw line. The Chieftains had just two 3-pointers in the final 16 minutes.
"My goodness they shot the lights out," Byington said of the first half.
The Chieftains led 21-16 after one period of play as Lowe had seven points and sister Torie Lowe, a freshman, had five points.
Dowagiac outscored Plainwell 24-19 in the second quarter to open up a 10-point halftime lead, 45-35.
With the score tied 29-29, Dowagiac went on a 16-6 run to end the first half. Holly Lowe's 3-pointer with 1.2 seconds remaining gave the Chieftains the momentum heading into the locker room.
"That was a big shot for us because we got the lead back to 10-points," Blomgren said.
Dowagiac came out in the third quarter and continued its strong play, building up an 18-point bulge at one point before taking a 61-47 lead heading into the final stanza.
One of the keys for the Chieftains on Tuesday night was the handling of the Lady Trojans' press.
"Our girls had to read and react to situations against the press and I thought we did a much better job of handling their pressure tonight," Blomgren said. "We had a couple of girls in different positions and I think it really made a difference."
Dowagiac again got strong play from its post players.
The Chieftains got 23 points out of Kristy Cooper (5), Katie Roach (4), Shardatsha Fitchett (8) and freshman Britnee Allerton (6).
Katy Stuppy led the Chieftains with 19 points, while Holly Lowe finished with 15 and Torie Lowe 14.
Plainwell, which is also a young team, got 22 points from sophomore Bianca Harmon and 11 points from Hali Dolnik.
Dowagiac will finish up its regular season with three tough league games.
The Chieftains travel to Gull Lake on Thursday night before hosting co-leader Otsego on Tuesday. Dowagiac will then wrap up the regular season on the road against Paw Paw.
Plainwell hosts Comstock on Thursday before finishing up with visiting Gull Lake and then Otsego on the road.
"We control our own destiny," Blomgren said. "If we win out we are the league champions."