—Messenger photo by Britt Kudla FORT DODGE’s Tory Bennett puts up a shot in the Dodger gym. on Tuesday.

The Fort Dodge girls are closer than they’ve been in years to physically matching the best the CIML has to offer.

Old habits die hard, though, as the Dodgers continue to be their own worst enemy when it comes to valuing possession of the basketball.

Head coach Scott Messerly’s squad held a halftime lead on 11th-ranked (Class 5A) West Des Moines Dowling here Tuesday, but turnover woes weighed Fort Dodge down like an anchor in a 70-49 loss to the Maroons.

A 31-12 third-quarter outburst by the visitors was all Dowling would need to pull away and improve to 6-0 on the young season. The Maroons made 12 field goals in the quarter, missing only five shots while keeping the pressure on the Dodgers (1-3) defensively.

Fort Dodge finished the night with 30 turnovers.

“The wheels kind of came off there in that third quarter, but we struggled all game long with mistakes and just getting in our own way too often,” Messerly said. “We did some really nice things in that first half at times, and the kids were playing hard. But there was too much one-on-one going on in our offense during the second half, and I think (the Maroons) wore us down a little. We have to get in better shape.”

Dowling was balanced, with five players scoring nine or more points. The Dodgers got 30 combined points from their junior post players — Paytene Hiveley (17 points) and Lainey Maehl (13) — but starting senior guards Tory Bennett and Aleaha Pommer, the focal points of the Maroons’ defensive gameplan, had relatively quiet evenings.

“We’re playing really good teams (Dowling was Fort Dodge’s third ranked opponent already this season), so on one hand, you have to be patient and remember things tend to look worse and get exposed more against the upper echelon (of the CIML),” Messerly said. “But there are also things within our own program we need to fix. Our defensive effort in that third quarter isn’t going to get the job done if we want to be competitive at a high level. And we’ve got to clean up the avoidable turnovers. Those really add up over the course of a game.”

There were five ties and five lead changes in the second quarter alone, and the Dodgers went up 27-25 right before the intermission on a basket by Jalen Adams and two Bennett free throws. A Maehl field goal made it 31-27 in favor of FDSH with 6:49 to go in the third period, but the Maroons exploded with a 10-0 run in the next 90 seconds.

Two Hiveley buckets kept the Dodgers within 39-35, but Dowling answered with 17 of the quarter’s final 21 points.

Junior Lauryn Frerichs had 19 points for the Maroons. Classmate Julia Moore added 13.

Freshman Marin Heller added 11 off the bench, while Emma Gipple and Ava Zediker — the team’s leading scorer as a freshman and the granddaughter of ex-Dodger boys coach Arnie Zediker — contributed nine each.

Fort Dodge returns to action against another ranked opponent on Thursday, taking on No. 5 Des Moines Roosevelt at 7:45 p.m. in the Dodger gym.

WDM DOWLING 70, FORT DODGE 49

Dowling — Lauryn Frerichs 8-12 0-0 19, Julia Moore 5-7 1-1 13, Ava Zediker 4-10 0-0 9, Emma Gipple 3-4 3-3 9, Laya Trytten 1-4 2-2 4. Marin Heller 5-15 0-0 11, Olivia Spracklin 1-1 0-0 3, Alex Gaskell 1-2 0-0 2, Addy Smith 0-0 0-1 0, Mollie Moist 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 28-58 6-7 70.

Fort Dodge — Lainey Maehl 4-10 5-6 13, Tory Bennett 2-5 6-6 10, Aleaha Pommer 1-4 2-2 5, Jalen Adams 1-5 2-2 4, Haley Wills 0-0 0-0 0, Paytene Hiveley 8-15 0-2 17, Mackenzie McIlrath 0-1 0-0 0, Taelore Presswood 0-2 0-0 0, Sienna Attig 0-0 0-0 0, Ere’ziah Jones 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 16-42 15-18 49.

Quarter scores: Dowling led 15-13; Fort Dodge led 27-25; Dowling led 56-39. Three-point goals: Dowling 8-24 (Frerichs 3-6, Moore 2-4, Zediker 1-4, Heller 1-5, Spracklin 1-1); Fort Dodge 2-8 (Hiveley 1-1, Pommer 1-1, Maehl 0-2, Presswood 0-2, Adams 0-1, Bennett 0-1). Turnovers: Dowling 16, Fort Dodge 30. Total fouls: Dowling 13, Fort Dodge 12.