By By SCOTT NOVAK / Dowagiac Daily News
A never say die attitude by the Dowagiac varsity basketball team allowed the Chieftains to remain atop the Wolverine Conference standings Thursday night.
The Chieftains rallied from a 7-point first half deficit and a 9-point second half Gull Lake advantage to pull out a 54-50 victory over the Lady Blue Devils.
The win improved Dowagiac to 7-1 in the league and 7-3 overall.
Chieftain junior point guard Katy Stuppy scored a game-high 32 points, including two out of three free throws in the final 24 seconds of the contest to keep Dowagiac out in front.
Trailing by nine points entering the final eight minutes, Dowagiac clawed its way back into the contest with defense and rebounding.
The Chieftains were outrebounded in the opening half 22-10, but held a 14-11 advantage in the second half. Dowagiac's pressure defense hurt Gull Lake all night long. The Chieftains created 14 second half turnovers, which led to some easy offensive opportunities.
Senior Holly Lowe cut the Gull Lake lead to 45-42 with a 3-pointer at the 5:47 mark of the final period. Stuppy followed with a basket to close the gap to 45-44 with 5:06 left on the clock.
Dowagiac took its first lead on a basket by junior Kristy Cooper with 4:50 to play. The Chieftains stretched their lead to 48-45 on a bucket by Stuppy with four and a half minutes left in the game.
With the Chieftains leading 51-47, Gull Lake began its own rally.
The Lady Blue Devils' Heather Ploehn canned a 3-pointer with 1:10 remaining to cut the Dowagiac lead to a single point, 51-50.
Gull Lake would get no closer as Stuppy hit both free throws with 24.5 ticks left on the clock and then made one out of two free throws with 1.2 remaining in the contest.
Gull Lake raced out to a 7-0 lead to start the contest. The Chieftains came roaring back behind the play of Stuppy, who had seven of Dowagiac's nine first quarter points.
The Chieftains were able to close the gap to 11-9 by quarter's end thanks to its defense, which caused eight turnovers.
Gull Lake was able to hold on to the lead throughout the second quarter as it outscored the Chieftains 17-14 and took a 28-23 advantage into the locker room at halftime.
The Lady Blue Devils stretched that lead to 44-35 heading into the fourth quarter as it again outscored the Chieftains in the third period. Gull Lake held a 16-12 scoring advantage in the period.
Despite the 9-point lead, Gull Lake really was never able to shake the Chieftains, thanks to their defense.
"Our defense and rebounding won this game for us tonight," Dowagiac coach Greg Blomgren said. "We trailed the whole game because of our slow start. We were not mentally focused at the start of the game for some reason, and because of that, we were chasing them all night."
Blomgren said that the team made it a point of emphasis to rebound better in the second half and it paid off.
"We rebounded the ball much better in the second half and because of that, we gave ourselves an opportunity to win this game," he said. "This is a huge win for our program."
Besides Stuppy's 32 points, Dowagiac also got 11 points from freshman Torie Lowe and seven points from Holly Lowe.
Dowagiac was outscored from the field 17-16, but had two more 3-point baskets than Gull Lake. The Chieftains were 17-of-26 from the free throw line, while Gull Lake was 13-of-19.
The Lady Blue Devils got 13 points from Ploehn and 11 points from Amanda Gajor.
The Chieftains return to action on Tuesday when they travel to Three Rivers for a rematch with the Lady Wildcats. Dowagiac then heads to Otsego on Thursday to face the league-leading Lady Bulldogs.
GULL LAKE 50
Nichole Joyner 2 0-0 4, Kate Petty 2 0-0 4, Heather Ploehn 5 1-2 13, Kerry Harrison 0 0-0 0, Karlee Peterson 1 3-4 5, Amanda Gajor 2 7-9 11, Jessie Eckler 3 1-2 8, Christine White 0 0-0 0, Jamie Smith 2 1-2 5. Totals: 17 13-19 50
DOWAGIAC 54
Beth Williams 0 0-0 0, Holly Lowe 3 0-0 7, Torie Lowe 3 4-9 11, Sada Nealey 0 0-0 0, Katy Stuppy 8 13-16 32, Katie Roach 1 0-0 2, Sara Ausra 0 0-0 0, Kristy Cooper 1 0-1 2. Totals: 16 17-26 54
Gull Lake 11 28 44 50
Dowagiac 9 23 35 54
Three-point baskets: Ploehn (GL) 2, Eckler (GL), H. Lowe (D), T. Lowe (D), Stuppy (D) 3. Total fouls: Gull Lake 19, Dowagiac 14. Fouled out: None. Technical fouls: None. Record: Dowagiac 7-3, 7-1 Wolverine