A slow start by the Dowagiac lady cagers Friday night prevented a gallant comeback against Wolverine Conference rival Paw Paw, as the Chiefs fell 46-40 to fall 2-6 in the conference and 2-7 overall.

Paw Paw (5-6, 5-4) started strong with a 10-point advantage after the first quarter at 16-6, but Dowagiac narrowed the lead to 23-16 at intermission with seniors Kaisha Martin and Katie Lorenz leading the way with five points apiece.

“Kaisha (Martin) hustled and had a good game and Katie (Lorenz) is leading the conference in 3-point baskets, so she needs to continue to shoot for us to win,” noted Dowagiac coach Emily McLoughlin. “We just dug ourselves a hole and played hard, but couldn’t get over the hump.”

Paw Paw, who was playing without junior point guard Desirae Humphrey (sprained ankle), also had a pair of five point scorers in juniors Laiken McManigal and Selena Martinez, while seniors Logan Ketchum and Amber Hatfield each had four points.

“Our press helped us early as Dowagiac turned the ball over a little bit, but they came back strong by battling back,” Paw Paw coach Gary Mitchell said.

The first minute of the third quarter proved crucial to the outcome as Paw Paw connected on a couple of long range missiles for a 29-16 lead, which grew to 32-18 at 3:20 on the scoreboard when Ketchum converted on a three-point play the old fashioned way.

Martinez followed Ketchum’s lead and her free throw gave the Redskins their biggest lead at 35-20 with 10 minutes left to play.

A driving layup by Martin with 3:30 remaining finally cut the deficit under double digits to 37-29 and a torpedo by Lorenz gave Dowagiac hope at 40-34 with just under two minutes remaining.

“Fouling them down the stretch is what we needed to do, so we could get the ball back,” mentioned McLoughlin. “I am proud of this team on how they battled and hope to build from this.”

Martin and classmate Haley Pegan each made baskets and the host trailed only 43-40 with 20 seconds left, but Martinez capitalized on her last trio of charity tosses to claim victory.

“We want (Selena) Martinez at the free throw line and she came through for us as did (Logan) Ketchum, who was strong on the boards (7 in 3rd quarter) after having knee surgery,” concluded Mitchell.

Martinez for Paw Paw and Martin for Dowagiac were the only players in double figures with 19 and 15 points, respectively and the latter missed getting a double-double by one rebound. Ketchum grabbed 13 missed shots for the victors.

Paw Paw also prevailed in the junior varsity contest with a 50-42 conquest of Dowagiac.

Leading the way for the Redskinds was Jessica Nelson with 18 points, while Kaelin Lambert and Jessica Beebe both finished with 10 points.

Dowagiac was led by sophomores Alex Carey and Kristyn Turner with 12 and 10 points respectively.

PAW PAW 46
Selena Martinez 5 6-7 19; Logan Ketchum 3 2-5 8; Natalie Kmet 2 1-2 6; Laiken McManigal 2 0-0 5; Amber Hatfield 2 0-0 4; Gabrielle VanHeulen 1 0-0 2; Hollee Kubiszak 0 2-5 2. TOTALS 11-19 46

DOWAGIAC 40
Kaisha Martin 5 5-7 15; Haley Pegan 3 3-4 9;  Katie Lorenz 2 2-2 8; Carly Polomcak 1 0-1 3; Kelsie Primley 1 0-1 3. TOTALS 12 13-22 40

Paw Paw 16 23 35 46
Dowagiac 6 16 23 40
3-point baskets: Paw Paw 5 (Martinez 3, Kmet, McManigal), Dowagiac 3 (Lorenz 2, Primley). Total fouls: Paw Paw 19, Dowagiac 17. Fouled out: (Martin). Varsity records: Paw Paw  5-6, 5-4 Wolverine; Dowagiac 2-7, 2-6 Wolverine