The University of the Virgin Islands women’s basketball team earned its first win of the season Thursday, but not before absorbing two more big losses in New Orleans. The men’s squad record fell to 4-6 after taking two more losses during the weekend.
Women’s Basketball
On Monday, the women’s basketball team fell to Xavier University of New Orleans 85-57, falling fell behind early and never able to get back into the game.
Xavier University of New Orleans scored the game’s first seven points and took a 28-11 lead at the end of the initial period.
Not much changed during the second quarter as UVI fell behind 52-24 at halftime.
The leading scorers for the Bucs were Allana Hurst with 20 points and Jaydn Rice with 13 points.
In the final game of their Louisiana road trip, the Lady Bucs lost to Loyola University of New Orleans 76-65. The Bucs fell behind 6-0 in the games first three minutes but outscored Loyola University of New Orleans 36-26 during the rest of the first held a 36-32 lead at halftime.
The third quarter was dominated by Loyola University of New Orleans as they outscored the Bucs 20-9 in that period. Rice lead the Buccaners in scoring with 19 points and Jasmen Anthony had 14 points.
The Bucs then moved to Puerto Rico, where they were able to secure their first win on Thursday, a 64-62 victory over the University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez but fell to the same University on Friday.
Men’s Basketball
The men’s basketball team fell twice to Keiser University over the weekend, dropping their record to 4-6, the first time this season they have been under .500.
On Friday, Keiser University defeated the Bucs 96-67. Keiser’s Seahawks jumped out to a 10 point lead over the first five and a half minutes and got their advantage as high as 21 in the first half.
UVI battled back and cut the lead to 10 at the midway point in the second half but weren’t able to get any closer as Keiser University ran away late in the game.
UVI was led in scoring by Keith Gilmore with 28 points and Josh Goss with 24 points.
In the second contest, the UVI squad lost 100-80 to Keiser University on Sunday morning, which dropped their record to 4-6 on the season.
When Keiser got ahead by seven over the game’s first eight minutes, it looked like they were about to jump out to a big first half lead again but the Bucs didn’t want a repeat of Friday night and tied the game at 26 with 7:45 remaining in the half. The Bucs kept the momentum going and took a four-point lead, but with five minutes remaining in the first half it was Keiser University in the lead again.
The teams went back-and-forth for the rest of the first half but it was Keiser University leading by three at halftime.
In the second half, the Seahawks steadily built on their halftime lead and pushed their advantage into double digits with around 12 minutes left when they went up by 11 points. Five minutes later their lead was 19 points and the home team was unable to close the gap.
Both UVI’s men’s and women’s teams will return to action Nov. 23 against Rush University, with the women playing at 1 p.m and the men at 8 p.m.
