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EDWARDSBURG — The top two seeds in the upcoming Division 2 girls district basketball tournament earned victories on Monday night. However, the teams accomplished that goal in very different ways.

Host Edwardsburg had to fend off a late second-half rally to defeat Vicksburg 45-41. The Eddies led by 15 points (40-25) heading into the fourth quarter, but were outscored 16-5 in the last eight minutes by the Bulldogs to make things interesting.

Thankfully for the Eddies, Paige Albright was 4-for-4 from the free throw line in the final minute of the game as Edwardsburg held on and improved to 9-3 on the season.

“We had to grind one out tonight,” said Edwardsburg Coach Jon Pobuda. “It seemed like there was a lid on the basket in the fourth quarter, but we were able to make our free throws down the stretch to hang on.”

Albright was one of three Edwardsburg players to score seven points in the contest. Ella Castelucci and Macey Laubach were the other two. Katie Schaible led the Eddies with 10 points.

Vicksburg (7-6) was led by Hannah Vallier’s game-high 12 points. Chloe Hatrdge added 11 points for the Bulldogs, who will face Constantine in the opening round of the district on Monday night. Tipoff is set for approximately 7 p.m.

Edwardsburg will be the No. 1 seed in the district being hosted by Dowagiac.  The Eddies will face the winner of the Vicksburg-Constantine game at 7 p.m. on Wednesday.

Three Rivers, the No. 2 seed, outscored the visiting Chieftains 18-8 in the opening quarter en route to an easy 56-34 non-conference victory.

Dowagiac (1-13), which will face Niles at 5:30 p.m. in the Division 2 district opener on Monday, dug itself another deep first-quarter hole. Unlike previous games, it played much better over the final three quarters.

“We played really good tonight,” said Dowagiac Coach Jason Turner. “The girls fought hard throughout the entire game. Last time we played them, we lost 53-12. It was a much better performance tonight offensively against a really good team. We don’t have anything to hang our heads about.”

The Wildcats (10-2) led 31-14 at halftime and 51-24 heading into the fourth quarter.

Kali Heivilin scored a game-high 26 points to lead Three Rivers, who will take on the winner of the Dowagiac-Niles game in the first semifinal at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday.

The Chieftains got 10 points from Allie Connor and five points each from Makayla Hill and Alanah Smith.