Girl’s Basketball: Chargers fall to Titans

The Midland Dow varsity girl’s basketball team was unable to hold a lead late Tuesday, as their dream season came to an end in the regional semifinal with a 52-44 loss against Traverse City West at Grayling High School.

“This was the most disappointing lose of the season,” said Dow coach Bob Wellman. “We came into this game expecting to win but did not play our game tonight and Traverse City West played a better game and earned the win.”

The Chargers jumped out to an early lead, but were too inconsistent to put the Titans away.

“We played very poor on the defensive end and allowed T.C. West to get many easy looks.” Wellman said. “Our offensive production was very inconsistent and we did not take advantage of our size.”

Despite their inefficiencies, Dow was still able to take a lead into the half and hold a five point lead with just over two minutes remaining in the game.

But when they needed a basket the most, a basket could not be found.

Traverse City came back and capitalized from the free throw line to take the lead and hold on for the win.

Offensively, the Chargers were led by Becca Mills who had with 12 points, while Taylor Mantyla and Leah Kebler finished with 10 points apiece.

Dow finishes its season with a 19-4 record overall, while going 9-1 in league play on their way to the district championship.

“These young ladies put their hearts and souls into this season and deserve a great amount of respect for how they ended the season,” Wellman said. “I certainly wish it would have ended differently, but I couldn’t be happier of how they worked every day.”