By By SCOTT NOVAK / Niles Daily Star
BERRIEN SPRINGS – Nearly every time Dowagiac senior point guard Katy Stuppy steps to the free throw line late in a contest, she thinks back to her sophomore year.
Stuppy missed free throws against Lakeshore at the end of regulation and Dowagiac would lose to the Lady Lancers in overtime, 57-56.
She blamed herself to the loss even though her coach and teammates would tell her otherwise.
"After that game she went into the locker room and I could tell that she truly thought that she'd felt she was the reason we lost," Dowagiac coach Greg Blomgren recalled. "I took her aside and gave her a big hug. And I told her she would have plenty of more opportunities to go to the line before her career was over."
Blomgren was right, Stuppy has had plenty of other opportunities and she has delivered on every occasion.
Including Friday night when she was 12-of-14 from the free throw line to lead Dowagiac to the Class B district championship, the Chieftains' first title in 31 years.
I thought about it every time, especially since it was Lakeshore," answered Stuppy. "I remember I was upset about it and coach Blomgren comes up to me and tells me to keep my head up, that I was going to be in that position a lot and he was right.
"Throughout the years I have grown and I like being in that position now. I am confident in myself to be that position," she added.
Stuppy said that she wanted the ball in her hands at the end of Friday night's game, but she would have given it up to any of her teammates.
"Actually, at that point, a lot of people were shooting free throws well, but I did want to have the ball in my hands," Stuppy said. "I wanted to be able to make those and I thought I would make them."
Stuppy, who holds nearly every record in the books, said that the district title is a huge achievement.
"This is the biggest accomplishment for us ever," she said. "Last year we won conference and we wanted to win this, but it didn't happen, so we had to let that go. That's all we wanted to do this year was win conference and districts."
Dowagiac just missed out on its second straight league championship, but by winning the district title, the monkey is now off the Chieftains' back.
"There is always the rivalry with Lakeshore and Dowagiac, so just to get that part down it's just like we can breath now," Stuppy said. "Now we can finally relax and just play."