Dowagiac opens with Parchment

Published 5:57 pm Saturday, February 25, 2012

The regular season has wrapped up and tonight the Michigan High School Athletic Association kicks off its second season.

The girls district basketball tournaments get under way throughout the state.

Dowagiac will make the trip over to Coloma to open up its post season against Parchment.

The Chieftains (2-18) will be facing the Panthers, who are 17-3 this season following a season-ending 30-25 win over Galesburg-Augusta Friday night.

Angela Patton, Kendyl Hinton and Meredith Stutz are among the offensive leaders for Parchment.

Dowagiac is led by Correisha Rodgers, who is averaging better than 13 points per game this season.

The winner will face South Haven, which Dowagiac has defeated twice this season, in the semifinals Wednesday at 5:30 p.m.

The other half of the bracket pits host Coloma against Wolverine Conference champion Paw Paw in the second game tonight at 7:30.

The Paw Paw-Coloma winner will face Plainwell Wednesday night in the second semifinal at 7 p.m.

The championship game is set for Friday night at 7.

Class C at Cassopolis

The Rangers received a first round bye and will face the winner of the Mendon-Centreville contest, which will be played tonight at 7:30 p.m.

The opening game of the tournament will have White Pigeon facing Constantine at 6 p.m. The winner of that game moves on to face Marcellus Wednesday night in the first semifinal at 6 p.m.

Cassopolis (9-10) will take on the Mendon-Centreville winner at 7:30 p.m. Mendon is the defending district champion.

The Hornets finished the regular season with an 18-2 record. One of those two losses was to then No. 1-ranked Brandywine.

The championship game is set for Friday at 7 p.m.

Class C at Brandywine

Fresh from its third straight Lakeland Conference championship, Brandywine is looking to win its fourth consecutive Class C District title.

The Bobcats reached the state semifinals two years ago and made it to the quarterfinals last year.

Brandywine (19-1) is ranked No. 4 and is looking for a return trip to the Breslin Center.

The Bobcats open the tournament against Watervliet tonight at 7 p.m.

The Panthers finished second to Lawton in the Southwest Athletic Conference South Division and ended the regular season with a 15-5 record after defeating Martin in its finale.

Brandywine is led by the area’s second leading scorer and all-time leader Carlie Newman (19.2 points per game). The Bobcats also look to Madison Pellow, Mackenzie Shelton, Rachael Ort and Brooke Smith for scoring.

Watervliet is led by Nicole Winter, Kirsten Sill and Casey Clark, who combined for 38 of the Panthers’ 55 points Thursday night.

The winner of the Brandywine-Watervliet game will face Dream Academy Wednesday night at 7:45 p.m. Dream Academy received a first round bye.

In the other half of the bracket,  New Buffalo (16-2) will take on Bridgman (5-15) in the first semifinal Wednesday night at 6 p.m.

The championship game is scheduled for Friday at 7 p.m.