The 18-game losing streak of the Dowagiac girls basketball team came to an end Wednesday night.

The Chieftains rallied to defeat visiting Bridgman 41-31 in a non-conference contest.

“We knew coming in that we could not only play with Bridgman, but we could beat them,” Dowagiac coach Floyd Foston said. “Last year we were down 14 points over there and we came back and won. It has been a long time coming for them to put a complete game together. We talked about playing 32 minutes in the pregame and they did that tonight.

“We didn’t have a lot of turnovers and we did a lot of good things defensively. We scored 41 points. It was a good game for us to have.”

Dowagiac (1-12) trailed most of the first half, but rallied in the closing seconds of the second quarter to tie the score at 16-16 heading into halftime.

The Chieftains would outscore the Bees 25-15 in the second half to earn its first win since beating Bridgman in February 2015.

Dowagiac, which was 2-of-9 from the free throw line in the first 16 minutes, hit 7-of-12 charity stripe tosses in the second half, including 5-of-8 in the fourth quarter to keep Bridgman at bay.

Taylor Hulett scored 11 points to lead the Chieftains offensively, while Mara Nelson added 10 points. Amiyah Smith finished with seven.

Kelsey Gnodtke scored 12 points to pace Bridgman.

Dowagiac will travel to South Haven for a make-up game Monday night.

 

DOWAGIAC 41, BRIDGMAN 31

At Dowagiac

BRIDGMAN 31

Madelynne Keller 5, Kennedy Melton 0, Beka Enders 2, Amara Mavrakis 8, Brooke Janes 0, Ashley Crowder 2, Becca Stemm 2, Kelsey Gnodtke 12. TOTALS: 14 2-5 31

DOWAGIAC 41

Tania Wilson 2, Taylor Hulett 11, Nijah Russell 4, Brittany Strauss 2, Elaiyh Pruitt 0, Alyssa Allen 0, Mara Nelson 10, Micaela Ruff 0, Taylor Pye 5, Amiyah Smith 7. TOTALS: 16 9-20 41

Bridgman  10    16    25    31

Dowagiac    8    16    26    41

3-point baskets: Bridgman 1 (Keller), Dowagiac 0. Total fouls (fouled out): Bridgman 18 (Mavrakis, Stemm), Dowagiac 14 (none). Varsity records: Bridgman 2-10, Dowagiac 1-12