The tale of Tuesday night’s 39-31 Otsego girls basketball victory over Dowagiac had a familiar ring to it for Chieftains’ coach Emily McLoughlin.

Dowagiac played hard for four quarters, turned in a solid defensive effort, but the Chieftains could not knock down open shots.

“That’s been our story all year,” she said. “We are making it a lot more difficult on ourselves than we have to at times. We are getting open looks, whether its layups or jumpers. We’re just not knocking them down.”

Dowagiac struggled mightily from the field in the opening 16 minutes of the contest and found itself down 25-10 at halftime.

The Chieftains came out in the third quarter and completely dominated the Bulldogs.

Correshia Rodgers set the tone with a 3-pointer to open the second half and finished with 12 of her game-high 17 points as Dowagiac cut the lead to five points, 29-24, by the end of the period.

The Chieftains (1-14, 1-12 Wolverine Conference) had three chances in the final 10 seconds to make it a three-point contest, but could not convert.

The Bulldogs (10-8, 7-6 Wolverine) regrouped during the break and scored the first five points of the fourth quarter to push their lead back to double digits.

Otsego outscored Dowagiac 10-2 in the opening three minutes of the final stanza, but still had to withstand a Chieftain charge in the closing minutes.

Carly Polomcak’s basket with 42.6 seconds showing on the clock was the game’s final basket and would be as close as Dowagiac would get.

Polomcak finished with five points.

Paige Koshar and Sarah White led a balanced Otsego attack with seven points each.

“I was proud of the way they came out in the third quarter, but you have to put 32 minutes together and we just haven’t done it,” McLoughlin said.

OTSEGO 39

Monica Miller 1 0-0 2; Alyssa Davis 0 0-0 0; Abby Woodstock 0 1-2 1; Paige Koshar 2 3-6 7; Shannon Nichols 1 1-4 3; Rachel White 2 1-4 5; Tori Hook 3 0-2 6; Hannah Tiller 1 2-4 4; Bailey Thompson 2 0-0 4; Sarah White 2 3-4 7. TOTALS: 14 11-26 39

DOWAGIAC 31

Correshia Rodgers 6 5-7 18; Kristyn Turner 1 2-2 4; Kelsie Primley 0 0-0 0; Jessica Herthoge 2 0-0 4; Kylee Williams 0 0-0 0; Carly Polomcak 2 1-2 5; Rachel Bailey 0 0-0 0; Regina Kennedy 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 11 8-11 31

Otsego 10 25 29 39

Dowagiac 3 10 24 31

3-point baskets: Otsego 0, Dowagiac 1 (Rodgers). Total fouls (fouled out): Otsego 13 (none), Dowagiac 19 (none). Technical fouls: Dowagiac 1 (bench). Varsity records: Otsego 10-8, 7-6 Wolverine; Dowagiac 1-14, 1-12 Wolverine