The Dowagiac girls basketball team will have to wait until Wednesday to open up Class B District Basketball Tournament action.

The Chieftains get the winner of Coloma and host Buchanan at 8 p.m. Wednesday.

The Comets (1-18) and Bucks (17-3) open up play Monday night.

Dowagiac (4-16) swept Coloma during a pair of Wolveirne Conference West Division meetings, while it was beaten by Buchanan 59-21 in its season opener.

The favorite heading into the tournament will be Benton Harbor (15-5) , who is led by Miss Basketball finalist Kalabrya Gondrezick (16.7 points per game) and her sister Kysre Gondrezick (27.1 points).

Dowagiac coach Floyd Foston is expecting Buchanan, which is led by Brooke Wesner (14.6 point) to advance to the semifinals Wednesday.

He feels that his team despite a losing record, could get to the finals due in part to playing a stronger schedule  during the regular season.

Dowagiac is coming off a 48-28 loss to Sturgis Thursday night, which Foston called a moral victory being that the Trojans defeated the Chieftains by 40 in the first meeting.

“I feel it has given us momentum going into the districts simply because of the defeat the first time by so many points and the fact that we hung with them this time.”

Foston said defense will be the key to getting to the finals this week.

“We have got to make sure we guard Brooke Wesner and (Jade) Mosier because they are pretty good shooters.” he said. “If we do that, we can hold our own. We have to come with the mindset that we did tonight. I do not think either one of those teams is as good as Sturgis. I know they do not have that kind size. We have a good chance of getting to the district championship, if we come to play.”

 

Class B at Vicksburg

The Eddies know exactly that Foston is talking about as their first round opponent Wednesday is Sturgis.

Edwardsburg (7-13) dropped a 52-44 decision to the Trojans (9-11) back in January.

The Eddies will be led by Savannah Dixon (17.1 points) and Katelynn Rogers.

 

Class C At Eau Claire

Cassopolis opens with the Benton Harbor Dream Academy tonight.

The winner advances to face No. 2-ranked Brandywine (19-1) in the Class C District semifinals at Eau Claire High School on Wednesday.

Cassopolis didn’t play the Benton Harbor Dream Academy during the regular season.

“I feel that we’re approaching the tournament in a good frame of mind,” said Rangers girls basketball coach Nat Pittman. “If our girls do the things our coaches ask them to do and stay focused we can hang with anybody.”

Cassopolis is led by Kortenei Suggs (8.8 points), Brittney Prestly (8.1) and Kaylynn Forrest (7.4).

“We’ve had a problem scoring,” Pittman said. “We lost six to seven games that we could have won if we made layups and free throws.”

The Rangers played well for a quarter and a half against Brandywine in the first meeting before the Bobcats turned the game into a rout in the second half.

Cassopolis shot only 22-percent (8-of-37) from the field and was 2-for-10 from the free-throw line in its regular season meeting against Brandywine.

The Rangers trailed, 19-12, midway through the second quarter against the Bobcats.

“For two quarters we played well against Brandywine before succumbing against them,” Pittman said. “We’ve improved a lot since playing them.”

 

Class A at St. Joseph

The Niles girls basketball team faces one of the favorites in the opening round of the Class A District Basketball Tournament tonight.

Lakeshore (17-3) will face the Vikings for a third time this season and for the second time in four days.

Lakeshore, the SMAC West Division champion, scored a 59-37 decision against the Vikings (12-8) in the regular season finale for both teams.

“Lakeshore is one of the first class teams in our conference,” Niles coach Phil D’Amico said. “They play hard, together and always seem to get a total team effort. They are as disciplined and as balanced as any team we have played and very difficult to defend as they can beat you from the outside as well as they beat us the first time from the inside the, so they are very difficult to defend.

Niles is led by junior guard Elyse Zimmerman, who is averaging 15.3 points per game.

Niles hosts Lakeshore tonight at 7 p.m.