Dowagiac's Britnee Allerton scores underneath against Lakeshore Saturday afternoon. The Lancers edged the Chieftains 51-50. (The Daily News/Scott Novak)

By SCOTT NOVAK

Dowagiac Daily News

Despite a season-high 33 points from senior Torie Lowe Saturday afternoon, host Dowagiac was clipped by Lakeshore 51-50.

The Chieftains rallied from a 10-point halftime deficit to finally catch and eventually overtake the Lancers in the final quarter.

Dowagiac trailed 16-14 after one period of play and 31-21 at the intermission.

The Chieftains chipped away at the Lakeshore lead throughout the second half, but never seemed to be able to get any closer than eight points in the third quarter and trailed 41-33 heading to the fourth.

But Dowagiac kept at it and used an aggressive defense to take the Lancers out of any offensive rhythm in the final eight minutes of play.

Dowagiac scored the first seven points of the fourth quarter to close the gap to 41-40 with 5:17 showing on the clock.

Lakeshore was finally able to snap the scoring drought, but Lowe’s three-point play with 3:07 left gave Dowagiac a 45-53 advantage.

The Lancers reclaimed the lead with a pair of free throws from Kaitlin Cornwell with 2:12 to play, but the Chieftains knotted the score at 46-46 on a free throw from Marcia Ennesser.

Lowe’s free throw 10 seconds later made it a 47-46 contest. She extended the lead to 48-46 with 1:07 to play, but missed the second free throw.

Lakeshore took the lead back on a free throw by Cam Tyler with 50.2 remaining in the contest, but two more Lowe free throws with 30 seconds left shifted the advantage back to Dowagiac, 50-49.

Cornwell then went the length of the floor without much of a challenge and scored the winning bucket with 21.1 seconds on the clock.

Dowagiac did get a chance to win the game, but couldn’t get the shot to fall, nor could it secure the rebound as the ball squirted out into the corner and nobody could get their hands on it as time expired.

“Maybe I should have taken a time out on the last one we made,” Dowagiac coach Dick O’Day pondered. “You know, we make the free throws, time out and get them some water. So I blame myself for that because we should have stopped that ball.

Dowagiac (5-8) will be able to take away some positives from a tough loss, including rallying in the second half from 10 points down and taking the game to the wire by being aggressive on both ends of the floor.

Many of Lowe’s 33 points came in the first and fourth quarters.

She connected for 11 points in the opening eight minutes and 11 in the final eight minutes. In between she netted five in the second quarter and six in the third quarter.

Lowe did most of her damage from the free throw line where she made more and shot more times than the entire Lakeshore squad.

Lowe went 19-of-24, while the Lancers were 17-of-20.

“What can you say?” O’Day said. “That was just Torie Lowe being Torie Lowe.”

Marcie Ennesser added seven points for the Chieftains, who also got six points from Kaisha Martin.

Lakeshore was led by Taylor Maas’ 13 points, although only two of those came in the second half on a pair of free throws.
“I thought Cierra Mattix and then Katie Lorenz did a nice job of keeping the ball away from Maas,” O’Day said.

Tyler and Stevie Eagle both finished with eight points.

Dowagiac is now off on Tuesday night as it prepares to take on Gull Lake this Friday evening.

The Chieftains were playing on back-to-back nights having defeated Wolverine Conference foe Allegan on Friday night 33-21.

LAKESHORE 51

Emily Lamana 0 2-2 2; Kaitlin Cornwell 2 2-2 6; Regan Gollehur 1 0-0 3; Heather Gusse 0 0-0 0; Lindsay McNair 1 0-0 2; Cam Tyler 3 2-3 8; Christina Welch 0 2-2 2; Stevie Eagle 2 4-5 8; Colleen Carlson 3 1-2 7; Taylor Maas 3 4-4 13. TOTALS: 15 17-20 51

DOWAGIAC 50

Cierra Mattix 0 0-1 0; Marcie Ennesser 3 1-4 7; Torie Lowe 6 19-24 33; Kaisha Martin 1 4-6 6; Andrea Bradshaw 0 0-0 0; Katie Lorenz 0 0-0 0; Britnee Allerton 2 0-0 4; Cassie Stone 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 12 24-35 50

Lakeshore 16 31 41 51

Dowagiac 14 21 33 50

3-point baskets: Lakeshore 4 (Gusse 1, Maas 3), Dowagiac 2 (Lowe 2). Total fouls: Lakeshore 25, Dowagiac 19. Fouled out: Eagle (L), Allerton (D). Varsity record: Dowagiac 5-8