Trail Blazers never recover from Loggers’ 16-point blitz to start game, suffer conference loss

QUINCY — When the John Wood Community College women’s basketball team hits the road Saturday to begin the second half of the Mid-West Athletic Conference schedule, the Trail Blazers see it as starting with a clean slate.

“If we just execute well, it will give us a chance,” sophomore guard Blair Eftink said.

It’s something the Trail Blazers struggled to do Wednesday night.

Lincoln Land Community College, ranked 11th in the NJCAA Division II national poll, scored the game’s first 16 points and outscored JWCC 27-7 in the first quarter, setting the stage for an 88-60 victory at the Student Activity Center.

“We didn’t come out ready to play,” Eftink said.

The Loggers did, shooting 62.5 percent from the field in the opening 10 minutes while the Trail Blazers shot 14.3 percent in the same stretch.

The second half was a different story for JWCC, which made 6 of 11 3-pointers in the third quarter and found a glimmer of hope by playing Lincoln Land even over the final 20 minutes.

“That shows if we would have come out with the same mindset that we did in the second half it could have been a different story,” Eftink said. “Maybe we could have made it a little bit more competitive.”

Eftink led the Trail Blazers (8-13, 3-5 MWAC) with 18 points, while Grace Deters had 13 points and seven assists and Bryleigh Fox finished with 14 points in her first game since Nov. 23.

“We have a couple more people available,” Eftink said. “I think we can build some momentum.”