By JONNY ZAWACKI

News Sports Writer

The Alpena Community College women’s basketball team lacked consistency on Monday, falling to Delta by a final score of 59-42 at Park Arena.

The Lumberjacks got off to a good start early in the game, thanks to their defensive play and ability to rebound, not allowing Delta to get many second chance opportunities and led 14-12 after one quarter of play.

Alpena continued playing well on the defensive side of the ball, but failed to get much of anything to fall and scored just four second quarter points and trailed by eight heading at the half.

“I can’t put the blame on the girls, but that’s on me as a coach. We do have to get in better shape come game time and I have to put them in situations where they can slow down, because when we slowed down that’s when we were playing our best. When we started running and doing things we shouldn’t be doing we looked a little chaotic and that’s on me. I should have told them to settle down and they should have listened, but the girls didn’t give up and they kept playing,” Alpena coach Bobby Allen said.

The Pioneers came out of the break on fire and opened up a 16-point lead, but Alpena refused to go away, answering with a 15-5 run to cut the lead to six heading into the final quarter of play.

Despite making a valiant effort to come back, the inconsistency of Alpena showed during the fourth quarter as they again went cold offensively and fell apart defensively, falling behind by 19 after the Pioneers went on a 17-4 run, which ultimately led to the Lumberjacks dropping their fourth game in a row.

“It comes down to the decision making that I put them in during practice and during a game we have to be able to execute. I put that on me because I didn’t put them in the right spot and every girl has to play a role on this team no matter what that may be,” Allen said

Alpena was led by Kendra Cole who scored a game high 23 points and Karina Cole added 10 points in the losing effort.

Jenna Szostak connected on five three pointers and ended with 16 points to lead the Pioneers to victory. Brooke Schutte and Tenesha Blair both chipped in with 11 points apiece.

With the loss, the Lumberjacks fall to 3-15 overall and will look to bounce back when they host Macomb Community College on Wednesday.

“This is a tough stretch for us because we’re battling injuries and trying to get them time off and still get them the right cardio in, it’s kind of tough right now and it’s not because we only have seven players. We just have to go in and believe in what you’re doing and I just don’t believe I’m putting them in the right spot at this point and time,” Allen said.

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DELTA (59): L. Rogers 2 4-4 8; S. Grawey 1 0-0 2; T. Blair 3 5-5 11; B. Schutte 4 0-0 11; J. Abenth 3 0-0 6; J. Szostak 5 1-2 16; A. Lee 2 0-0 5.

ALPENA (42): Ke. Cole 9 3-6 23; B. Ellis 2 2-2 7; A. Archambeau 1 0-0 2 Ka. Cole 3 3-4 10.