EDWARDSBURG — A scoreless first quarter for Dowagiac contributed to its 56-35 loss to Edwardsburg Wednesday evening in the Class B district girls’ basketball game hosted by the Eddies.

Edwardsburg raced out 7-0 lead three minutes into the game while Dowagiac struggled to find their offense.

The Eddies closed out the first quarter with a 11-0 lead.

“We came out strong right away going ahead and playing a fast paced game,” Edwardsburg coach Nicole Cartwright said of her teams start. “You wouldn’t of know they just played their hearts out a night ago against St. Joseph. We were really happy with the start of the game. Our next game is always our biggest game and we have had that philosophy all season long and I think that has helped us stay focused. The girls are a very focused group and they know it is important at tournament time.”

The second quarter was played evenly with each team scoring 14 points. Edwardsburg opened up a 14-point lead in the quarter, 21-7, but a 3-pointer by Carly Polomcak cut the lead back to 11 with just under two minutes to play in the first half. Dowagiac’s Kaisha Martin scored nine of her game-high 21 points in the second quarter.

“They (Edwardsburg) play really good defense and it was a combination of their good defense and I don’t know if it was nerves for us,” Dowagiac coach Emily McLoughlin said of her teams start. “I just can’t put my finger on it. I thought we were well-prepared for the game tonight we just made some silly turnovers, let them score and started to hang our head a little bit.”

Edwardsburg game out ready to play to start the second half and out scored Dowagiac 16-4 in the first six minutes of the third quarter to build a 41-18 lead. Rachel Vite scored five of her 13 points in that stretch and Sarah D’Amico also scored five of her 13 points in the run to set the Eddies up with a comfortable lead.

Dowagiac came out in the fourth with a full-court pressure defense and made an 8-2 run at the Eddies, who had brought their starters to the bench, cutting into the lead and trailing 43-31 with five minutes to play. Cartwright put her starting line up back into the game to regain control of the game and the Eddies went on a 9-0 run to return the margin back to a 21 point lead.

In that stretch it was D’Amico adding her third 3-pointer of the night to seal the victory and advance the Eddies to Friday’s championship game where they will face Lakeshore, a 60-28 winner over Buchanan in the night’s first semi-final game.

EDWARDSBURG 56

Rachel Vite 4 5-8 13, Emily Kozinski 5 0-0 10, Hannah Hack 0 2-2 2, Sarah D’Amico 5 0-1 13, Ashley Streb 3 0-0 6, Brandi Fleshauer 2 0-0 4, Mariah Murphy 2 0-4 4, Mikayla Handy 1 0-0 2, Teryn Williams 1 0-0 2. Totals 23 7-17 56

DOWAGIAC 35

Jessica Martin 2 0-0 2, Kelsie Primley 2 0-0 5, Kaisha Martin 5 11-15 21, Haley Pegan 1 0-0 2, Carly Polomcak 1 0-0 3, Regina Kennedy 1 0-0 2. Totals 11 11-15 35

Dowagiac 0 14 23 36

Edwardsburg 11 25  41 56

3-point baskets: Edwardsburg 3 (D’Amico 3), Dowagiac 2 (Primley, Polomcak). Team fouls: Edwardsburg 13, Dowagiac 11. Fouled out: None. Varsity records: Dowagiac 6-15, Edwardsburg 17-5

Buchanan…28

Lakeshore…60

Lakeshore advanced to the district semifinal with a lopsided 60-28 victory over Buchanan in the first game Wednesday night.