DOWAGIAC — Anyone who thought the Dowagiac girls basketball team had not been improving throughout the year need only look at last Thursday night’s result.

The Chieftains ended their regular season with 42-27 victory over visiting South Haven in a Wolverine Conference crossover.

The Rams had defeated Dowagiac 40-15 back in mid-January.

“Great win tonight,” first-year Dowagiac coach Jason Turner said. “Great to end the season on a win. We went over a game plan last night at practice, and we executed that game plan really nicely. We played a very good all-around game tonight. Defensively, we were aggressive and played fast offensively. It was great to redeem ourselves from our loss to them earlier this year.”

Turner is hoping Dowagiac carries that momentum into tonight’s Division 2 district opener at Buchanan against defending champion Edwardsburg.

“Our keys to success in the district tournament are to get one step at a time and handle the pressure offensively,” he said. “We need to look to push the ball up the court and not allow teams to get set up in their presses. Our biggest challenge facing us is handling the defensive pressure from teams and not giving up big runs.”

Dowagiac (2-18) takes on the Eddies (19-1) in the second game at approximately 7 p.m.

Three Rivers will face host Buchanan in the district opener, which is scheduled to start at 5:30 p.m.