By By SCOTT NOVAK / Dowagiac Daily News
A 41-point second half lifted the Dowagiac varsity basketball team to a 62-38 victory over visiting Portage Northern in a Big 16 Conference non-divisional contest.
The win was the second straight for the Chieftains, who improved to 3-7 on the season heading to Kalamazoo on Thursday night to face Loy Norrix.
After a sluggish first half that saw the Chieftains go 7-of-34 from the field (21 percent), Dowagiac coach Greg Blomgren had a very shot halftime speech.
Dowagiac led just nine eight against the Lady Huskies after one period of play and 21-17 at the intermission.
Dowagiac started out the third quarter a little slow, but then caught fire and blew Portage Northern out of the game.
The Chieftains held a 21-10 scoring advantage in the third quarter and a 20-11 advantage in the final eight minutes to outscore the Lady Huskies by 20 points in the second half.
Katy Stuppy again led all scorers as she tossed in 26 points. Holly Lowe, who was held scoreless in the first half, responded with 15 points in the second half.
Dowagiac also got nine points and seven rebounds from Kim Luthringer. Stuppy led the Chieftains with eight rebounds, while Lowe had a team-high four assists. Kristy Cooper finished with three assists and five rebounds.
Jolynn Hawkins had six points and six rebounds.
The Dowagiac junior varsity basketball team picked up a victory Tuesday night against visiting Portage Northern.
The Chieftains posted a 48-40 win over the Lady Huskies.
Portage Northern salvaged one game of the Big 16 Conference non-divisional tripleheader as it defeated the Dowagiac freshmen squad, 34-20.
Freshmen basketball
Both teams tossed in six first quarter points, however, Portage Northern outscored Dowagiac 9-2 in the second period to take a 15-8 halftime advantage.
The Lady Huskies outscored Dowagiac 10-12 in the second half to earn the victory.
Katie Wood led Dowagiac with five points, Kayleigh Hutchings added four points.
JV basketball
An 18-8 scoring advantage in the second quarter lifted the Chieftains to victory.
Dowagiac trailed 12-9 after one period of play, however, the Chieftains outscored the Lady Huskies in the second period to take a 27-20 lead at the intermission.
Dowagiac and Portage Northern played nearly even in the second half.
The Chieftains held a slim 21-20 scoring advantage over the final two periods to finish with the eight-point victory.
Beth Williams led all scorers with 18 points. Dowagiac also got 11 points from Tanisha White and seven points from Sada Nealy.
The Chieftains return to the court on Thursday as they travel to Kalamazoo to face Loy Norrix.