DANVILLE — As they have several other times this season, the Danville Area Community College Lady Jaguars were able to mount a big second half comeback, but for the first time at home it wasn’t enough as the Jaguars lost 72-64 to the Lewis & Clark Lady Trailblazers.

Tiara Cordy and Kayton Cole led DACC with a game high 18 points each, with Tierra Golightly adding 10 points.

It was the Jaguars first loss in 12 games this season at the Mary Miller Gymnasium and second loss to the Trailblazers, who they lost to by 17 in January.

“We have played with confidence all year at home,” said DACC coach Kyle Bent. “We have beaten a lot of good teams at home like Parkland and Lakeland, and when you get some wins early in the season, it gives you some energy to feed off of.

“Games like tonight happened a lot earlier this year and we were able to get some wins. The difference tonight was when we got the lead in the second half we didn’t do a very good job on offense and didn’t have quality possessions.”

It was a game of runs throughout and the Trailblazers had the first one as they jumped out to an 11-2 lead. The Jaguars closed the margin to 13-11, but the Trailblazers responded right back to go up 26-15.

A basket by Cole would cut the lead to 28-24, but the Trailblazers ended the half strong and took a 39-27 lead into halftime.

“We got really rattled on offense at times in the first half and that is a testament to Lewis & Clark,” Bent said. “They really get in your face on defense, and they are very physical under the basket. It took us some time to respond to that and how to respond to their defense is what we focused on at the break.”

Lewis & Clark would build their largest lead at 43-27 early in the second half before Cordy and Cole sparked a 14-1 run that was capped by Golightly to make the score 44-41 with 15 minutes to go.

Cole would tie the game at 48-48 just over three minutes later, and a basket by Cordy would give DACC its first lead of the game at 50-48 with just over 10 minutes to go.

“We were able to do a couple of things to get our guards some easy baskets and Tiara and Kayton were able to take advantage of that,” Bent said. “We started hitting some shots in the second half and that is always the best way to give yourself some confidence in a game.”

Lewis & Clark would retake the lead with 8:45 to go and held it for the rest of the game. The Jaguars would threaten with about four minutes to go — closing the deficit to 58-57, but a final 12-0 Trailblazers run put the game out of reach.

“We did do a couple of things different this time around,” Bent said. “They really gave us a hard time in the first game with their hi-low game and we defended that better, and overall we did a better job shooting in this game.”

The Jaguars are now 17-8 overall and return to action Saturday at Lincoln Land.

“With all of the injuries we have had this season, I couldn’t be more proud of our players for not only showing up and competing every night, but for also winning a lot of games,” Bent said. “One of our goals this season was to go undefeated at home but to be 11-1 at home at this point in the season is still a tribute to the effort of our girls.

“We know we have a short bench against most teams, but we make no excuses because of that. Tonight will be a learning experience for us in our pursuit of playing our best basketball at the end of the season in March. Our team always plays hard and the effort is never lacking, but our goal is to bring all facets of the game together and to continue improving as a team.”