By By SCOTT NOVAK / Dowagiac Daily News
Comstock's Asiah Gardner scored 20 of her 25 points in the second half to lead the visiting Lady Colts to a 55-47 come-from-behind Wolverine Conference victory over Dowagiac Thursday night.
Comstock outscored Dowagiac 40-23 in the second half to rally from a 25-15 halftime deficit.
"We got beat by a team tonight that wanted it more than us," Dowagiac coach Dick O'Day said. "I'm watching and No. 10 (Amy Mort) is shooting, missing and grabbing the rebound and putting it back in as we're watching the ball. Their No. 23 (Asiah Gardner) played with the heart of a lion. Look what happened, she had 23 points. Until we play with heart I think we are going to be in trouble."
The Lady Colts almost matched their first half total in the third quarter when they exploded for 21.
On the other end of the court, Dowagiac struggled offensively, scoring just nine points in the third quarter and ended up in a 36-36 tie heading into the final stanza.
The Chieftains broke back on top at the beginning of the fourth quarter as Torie Lowe, who scored a game-high 27 points, hit a free throw and a pair of baskets to stake Dowagiac to a 41-36 advantage with 6:32 remaining in the contest.
The Lady Colts came storming right back as Mort grabbed an offensive rebound and scored for the second time in the period to make it a 45-44 contest with 4:06 remaining.
Trailing 47-44, Madison Murphy brought Comstock back within a point with a hoop at the 2:30 mark. Another offensive rebound by the Lady Colts with 1:23 left in the game by Mort gave Comstock the lead for good at 48-47.
The Lady Colts then got a three-point play by Gardner 17 seconds later to make it a 51-47 contest.
Comstock, which hit 9-of-12 free throws in the fourth quarter, hit all four attempts in the final minute to seal the outcome.
The Lady Colts had just five players score on Thursday night. Besides Gardner's total, Comstock also got 13 points from Mort, seven points from Chelsie Hankla, six points from Karley Rickstad and four points from Murphy.
Lowe was the lone Chieftain to reach double figures. Britnee Allerton scored five points before fouling out, while Kaisha Martin and Brittany Gnatz both scored four points.
In the junior varsity contest, Dowagiac was defeated by Comstock 22-17.
Correshia Rodgers led the Chieftains with eight points. Breneesha Jones added five.
COMSTOCK 55
Amy Mort 6 1-3 13; Madison Murphy 2 0-0 4; Karley Rickstad 2 2-3 6; Asiah Gardner 8 9-15 25; Bethany Tafil 0 0-0 0; Amanda Naylor 0 0-0 0; Chelsie Hankla 3 0-0 7; Kristen Vangoeye 0 0-0 0; Paige Barnes 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 21 12-21 55
DOWAGIAC 48
Tasia Diaz 1 0-2 2; Torie Lowe 8 11-14 27; Kaisha Martin 2 0-2 4; Brittany Gnatz 2 0-0 4; Britnee Allerton 2 1-2 5; Kayleigh Hutchings 1 1-5 3; Cassie Stone 1 1-3 3. TOTALS: 17 14-28
Comstock 10 15 36 55
Dowagiac 11 25 36 48
3-point goals: Comstock 1 (Hankla). Total fouls (fouled out): 20, Dowagiac 19 (Allerton). Varsity record: Dowagiac 2-4,