By By SCOTT NOVAK / Dowagiac Daily News
COLOMA – There is more to the Dowagiac basketball team than just 3-point shooting.
Just ask the St. Joe Lady Bears.
The Chieftains were just 1-of-11 from 3-point range on Wednesday night, but still managed to score a 60-38 victory in the Class B District semifinals at Coloma High School.
The win advances the Chieftains to the district finals on Friday night against long-time rival Lakeshore.
Instead of using the 3-pointer to power its offense, Dowagiac went inside on the Lady Bears and dominated St. Joseph after a slow start.
Dowagiac (15-6) continually pounded the ball into its post players, who accounted for half of the Chieftains' points.
"A lot of the things you saw tonight we have been getting out of our fours and fives the last half of the season," Dowagiac coach Greg Blomgren said of Dowagiac's inside game. "They did an excellent job of finding spaces to get the ball and our guards did a great job of getting the ball to them."
The foursome of Shardatsha Fitchett, Britnee Allerton, Katie Roach and Kristy Cooper combined for 30 points. Fitchett led that group with 12 points and six rebounds, while Allerton, a freshman, finished with 10 points and six rebounds. Roach and Cooper both had four points.
Even though Dowagiac's trio of guards struggled to get off shots from the perimeter, point guard Katy Stuppy was the spearhead of the Chieftain offense.
Stuppy finished with a game-high 22 points, including the team's only 3-point basket. Stuppy also had seven assists in the contest and numerous steals.
Dowagiac struggled early on as St. Joe was not about to let Stuppy get her game going. The Lady Bears used a box and one on the Chieftains' top scorer.
With the team having a hard time finding the range from the field, the Chieftains turned to their defense to get back into the game after falling behind 5-0.
Stuppy finally broke the ice for the Chieftains with a bucket at the 5:06 mark, while Fitchett cut the Lady Bears' lead to 9-7 with 2:04 to play in the period.
Trailing by the two points entering the second quarter, Dowagiac exploded for 24 points.
Stuppy, who had a pair of baskets, really took her game inside and went to the free throw line five times. She finished with eight points in the quarter, while Allerton and Fitchett came off the bench to score six and four points respectively.
Dowagiac was red-hot from the field in the second period, hitting 9-of-14 attempts from the field.
On the other end of the floor, the Dowagiac defense limited the Lady Bears to just 2-of-6 shooting and forced seven turnovers.
Fortunately for St. Joe, it was 8-of-8 from the free throw line or the game might have been over at halftime.
The Chieftains took a 31-22 lead into the second half and steadily pulled away from the Lady Bears, outscoring St. Joe 34-16 in the final 16 minutes.
"On a scale from one to 10, I would say our performance tonight was a five or a six," Blomgren said. "But our defense came to play and we really were able to force them into some bad situations."
Dowagiac made its living at the free throw line in the second half, something Blomgren and his staff discussed at halftime.
"We wanted to get into the bonus as quickly as we could in the second half and we were able to do that," he said.
Dowagiac was 12-of-17 from the charity stripe in the second half and finished the game shooting 19-of-29.
The Chieftains outscored St. Joe 15-10 in the third quarter and 14-6 in the final period to pull away.
Dowagiac was able to limit the St. Joe offense with solid rebounding throughout the contest.
"We had two points of emphasis," Blomgren said. "We wanted to play good defense and we wanted to rebound well. I thought we did that."
Dowagiac was outrebounded by the Lady Bears 24-21.
The Chieftain defense limited St. Joe to just one player in double figures. Michelle Bendewald led the Lady Bears with 15 points.
The Chieftains and Lady Lancers will square off on Friday night at 7 p.m. for the district title.
Dowagiac will be looking to win its first championship in 29 years.
Lakeshore, which is 9-12, defeated Berrien Springs in the first opening game Wednesday night, 48-27.
DOWAGIAC 60
Katy Stuppy 6 9-11 22, Torie Lowe 1 4-4 6, Katie Roach 2 0-0 4, Holly Lowe 1 0-0 2, Kristy Cooper 1 2-4 4, Britnee Allerton 4 2-4 10, Shardatsha Fitchett 5 2-6 12. Totals: 15 19-29 60
ST. JOSEPH 38
Maria Kish 0 3-4 3, Becky Ziebart 1 2-2 4, Emily Laukus 2 3-3 7, Brittney Benya 1 2-2 4, Michelle Bendewald 3 6-8 15, Andrea Vonk 1 1-2 3, Sara Cobb 0 2-2 2. Totals: 8 19-23 38
Dowagiac 7 31 46 60
St. Joseph 9 22 32 38
3-point baskets: Stuppy (D), Bendewald (SJ) 3. Total fouls: Dowagiac 18, St. Joseph 21. Fouled out: None. Technical fouls: None. Records: Dowagiac 15-6, St. Joseph 9-13