DOWAGIAC — When a team is not gifted with a lot of scorers, things like foul trouble can disrupt what a coach is trying to get accomplished.

Such was the case for first-year Dowagiac coach Jason Turner in the Chieftains’ Wolverine Conference non-divisional 62-22 loss to visiting Otsego Friday night.

“Tonight, we played really tough,” Turner said. “We got into some foul trouble, which affected our rotations tonight. We have to work at anticipating what happens.”

Otsego took advantage of the situation. The Bulldogs raced out to a 17-2 lead on the Chieftains, which it extended to 35-10 by halftime.

Dowagiac (0-3) was able to put together some offense in the second half, but was never going to be able to make up the first-half deficit.

“We have to continue to get better in practice every day and play faster,” Turner said.

Allie Conner scored nine points to lead the Chieftains, who also got five points from Madison Potter and four points from Hayden First.

Dowagiac will travel to Plainwell on Tuesday.

Boys basketball

For the second straight season, Otsego was able to start fast and finish strong against Dowagiac.

The Bulldogs, who are the defending Wolverine Conference champions, opened up a 25-14 first-quarter advantage and never looked back in a 90-63 non-divisional win over the Chieftains.

Otsego (2-0) used long-range shooting to rack up the points. The Bulldogs had 13 3-pointers, including six by Charlie Woodhams, who scored a game-high 37 points.

Dowagiac, which trailed 54-25 at halftime, was led by Dashawn Brooks, who scored 17 points. D.J. Lanier added 14 points, and Cailyn Murphy 11.

The Chieftains (0-2) will host Plainwell in another non-divisional contest Tuesday night.