In a defensive slog, it was a perfectly timed offensive rebound that helped Dixon pull out a 45-43 win over Stillman Valley on Saturday night at Lancaster Gym.

Addy Lohse’s three-point play on a putback with 1:12 remaining proved to be the winning basket in a low-scoring scrap between Big Northern Conference rivals.

“We definitely knew going into the game that we had to work hard for all of our rebounds,” Lohse said. “We knew that Stillman was going to fight for the boards, and we knew that was a big key that we had to take care of.”

Ahmyrie McGowan’s driving layup came off the right side of the rim, but Lohse was there to clean it up, scoring through contact before knocking down the free throw for a 44-40 Dixon lead.

Lillian Green’s driving layup got the Cardinals within 44-43 with 46 seconds to play, but they turned the ball over on their last two possessions with a chance to tie or win in the final 15 seconds.

“We know against them it’s going to be a grind-it-out game, and for us it was just keep fighting, keep fighting, give ourselves an opportunity,” Stillman coach Bobby Mellon said. “We had a couple opportunities down the stretch and did not execute. But it’s one of those games where you learn from it and get better, so we don’t make those mistakes next time.”

The Duchesses (26-3, 7-1 BNC) led 31-23 with 1:42 left in the third quarter after Morgan Hargrave’s 3-pointer. Stillman Valley (17-10, 5-4 BNC) cut the deficit to three with a 3 by Lillian Green and a post bucket by Dailene Wade, but Presley Lappin’s 3 at the third-quarter buzzer made it 34-28 Dixon.

Green put back her own miss and Alyvia Bragg hit a jumper with 5:37 to go to get the Cardinals within 38-36, but Reese Dambman responded with a floater and then split a pair of free throws to stretch it back to 41-36 with 4:00 left.

Wade hit two free throws, then Green hit a pull-up jumper to get within 41-40 with 2:11 left, but Lohse’s key play pushed the Dixon lead back to four.

“I think for us, we kind of came out slow and played a little bit slow today,” Dambman said. “But at the end, that’s really when we needed to come together and play a little bit quicker, and I think that’s when we really took over.”

The Duchesses shot just 31.9% from the field (15 of 47) and 30.4% from 3-point range (7 of 23), but they nabbed 11 steals and forced 19 turnovers to notch their sixth straight win, 15th in the last 16 games, and 18th in the last 20.

“Our shots weren’t falling, so that was obviously a struggle, but our defense was big tonight,” Dambman said. “I think that us just knowing when to rotate and getting those quick stops that can convert into transition, that’s what really helped us. It’s not even the throw-aheads for layups, it’s really just us getting the stop, then taking time and resetting our offense. That’s what really kept us in it, too.”

Dambman had 15 points and three assists, and Hargrave added 10 points, four rebounds and four steals. McGowan stuffed the stat sheet with eight points, seven rebounds, four blocks, three steals and two assists, and Kiley Gaither chipped in six points and three steals as Dixon honored its 2026 Hall of Fame class and also celebrated its youth basketball program.

“That’s definitely a difficult situation when the offense struggles, kind of getting in your head, but we know that we can get it back with stops on defense, and we know that our shots will fall eventually,” Lohse said. “Tonight was a big night, lots going on, and maybe we weren’t in our right mind. But in the end, it all worked out.”

Green had a 20-point, 11-rebound double-double to lead Stillman, and Wade had 12 points, eight rebounds and three assists. Emma Withers added six points, nine rebounds and two assists, and Bagg chipped in five points and two assists. The Cardinals kept it close thanks to a 37-24 rebounding edge and winning 50-50 balls throughout.

“We were definitely getting more confident as the game went on, especially coming off a strong game against Byron [on Thursday],” Green said. “We had energy, and we’re a really big ‘hustle’ team, I would say.

“I’m just glad that we were in the game and got into that position and had that opportunity at the end. We’re a young team, but we’ve just got to learn from it and work on getting better.”