NICEVILLE, Fla. -- The location namesake of the Gulf Coast Classic did not prove to be true to the Vincennes University Women’s basketball team over the weekend.

The Trailblazers dropped a pair of games in the tournament after an 88-42 loss to No. 2 Northwest Florida State Saturday night.

The second straight loss drops VU to 3-2 on the season.

The Trailblazers fell behind 15-0 on Saturday and could not recover.

“We had an extremely hard time running our offense against them,” VU coach Harry Meeks said. “We tried everything but they were just bigger than us and quicker than us at every position.”

NWFS led 24-6 after the first 10 minutes of play and were ahead 44-21 at halftime.

The Trailblazers turned the ball over 29 times and attempted just 42 shots from the field for the game.

“Those 29 turnovers are like just giving them 29 free points,” the veteran coach said.

The Trailblazers did shoot the ball well from the free-throw line.

Cristina De La Cruz-Fuente (6-for-6) and Jaynice Stovall (5 of 6) combined to hit 11 of 12 freebies as VU knocked down 17 of 22 from the stripe in the game.

Stoval and Ivanda Hudjakova both scored 10 points to pace the Trailblazers on offense.

Meeks mentioned the lopsided loss can be a learning experience for his young team.

“We just have to get better at every phase of the game,” he said. “But we just have to get back at it on Monday and put in the work. Now it’s just a matter of how hard can we go. Things do not get any easier for us, but I am confident this team will continue working hard to get better.”

The Trailblazers travel to District 16 foe John A. Logan on Wednesday.

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VICKIE PUFFER, Communications Coordinator & Online Newsroom Manager

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VINCENNES UNIVERSITY, Department of University Relations, www.vinu.edu/news/newsroom