By By SCOTT NOVAK / Dowagiac Daily News
In command from the start, the Dowagiac girls' varsity basketball team made a winner out of first year coach Dick O'Day on opening night.
The Chieftains grabbed a quick 14-6 first quarter lead and never looked back in defeating visiting South Haven on Friday night, 49-30.
The Lady Rams were able to cut into the Chieftains' advantage in the second quarter, whittling the lead down to 16-14 with 2:42 remaining in the first half.
But from there it was all Dowagiac.
The Chieftains finished on a 13-6 run to end the first half and take a 29-20 lead into the locker room at intermission.
Dowagiac outscored South Haven 11-4 in the third quarter to open up a commanding 40-24 advantage.
The Lady Rams outscored the Chieftains 10-7 in the final eight minutes to make the score look a bit more respectable.
"The girls worked hard the last four weeks to get prepared," O'Day said. "I think we can do a little better. I thought our defense was good in places and it fell apart in places. We didn't rebound as good as I think we could have.
"I thought we played well. The think I like most is we got to play everybody and that's going to be hard to do in this conference," he continued.
O'Day also noted that he thinks his team will shoot the ball better in coming games.
Dowagiac still managed to hit 40.8 percent from the field, but was just 3-of-11 from 3-point land. The Chieftains were also just 6-of-12 from the free throw line.
South Haven was 14-of-37 (38 percent) from the floor and 2-for-3 at the charity stripe.
Torie Lowe led all scorers with 21 points, while Kaisha Martin added 11 in her first varsity start. The Chieftains also got five points from Britnee Allerton and four points from Tasia Diaz.
Sara Parish-Reeves ' 16 points led South Haven. Christina Pigozzi added 10 points.
Dowagiac won the freshmen contest 32-6. The Chiefts were up 22-3 at the intermission.
Jacoya Brookins led Dowagiac with 13 points, while Carly Polomcak added eight. Meghan Hojara and Rylie Cox scored five and four points respectively.
The Chieftains are back in action on Thursday when they travel to Three Rivers for another Wolverine Conference contest. Tip-off is slated for 7:15 p.m.
SOUTH HAVEN 30
Pae'Ton Brown 0 0-0 0; Christina Pigozzi 3 4-4 10; Hayley Bierhalter 1 0-1 2; Brianne Hooper 0 0-0 0; Jocelyn VanWynen 0 0-0 0; Christina Alayon 0 0-0 0; Tonie Brown 1 0-0 2; Sara Parish-Reeves 7 2-2 16. Totals: 12 6-7 30
DOWAGIAC 49
Tasia Diaz 2 0-0 4; Cierra Mattix 0 0-0 0; Torie Lowe 7 4-6 21; Kaisha Martin 5 1-2 11; Andrea Bradshaw 0 0-0 0; Leana Allen 0 0-0 0; Brittany Gnatz 1 0-0 2; Britnee Allerton 2 1-2 5; Kayleigh Hutchings 1 0-2 2; Marcie Ennesser 1 0-0 2; Cassie Stone 1 0-0 2. Totals: 20 6-12 49
South Haven 6 20 24 30
Dowagiac 14 29 40 49
3-point goals: South Haven 0, Dowagiac 3 (Lowe 3). Total fouls (fouled out): South Haven 14, Dowagiac 12. Freshmen score: Dowagiac 32, South Haven 6. Varsity records: South Haven 0-1, 0-1 Wolverine Conference; Dowagiac 1-0, 1-0 Wolverine