The University of the Virgin Islands (UVI) Lady Buccaneers suffered a tough 80-45 defeat in their rematch against the Dillard University Lady Bleu Devils on Sunday evening. This loss followed an 85-64 defeat in their first meeting on Saturday afternoon.
In the most recent matchup, UVI (0-15, 0-14 HBCUAC) struggled offensively from the start, falling behind early and failing to contain the Dillard attack. By halftime, the Lady Buccaneers were trailing by 21 points. Despite efforts to find their rhythm in the second half, Dillard extended their lead and secured a comfortable victory as the Lady Buccaneers could not overcome their offensive struggles.
Senior forward Kashay Bass contributed 14 points, while sophomore guard Ashukamay’ah Phillips added 13 points to the team’s total. Senior guard Maliah LaCour also made an impact with nine points and 11 rebounds.
On Saturday, in their first meeting of the weekend, UVI got off to a hot start, winning the first quarter 19-17. The second quarter saw a back-and-forth battle between the two teams, but the Lady Buccaneers found themselves in the ball game despite trailing at the half 41-37. However, the game got away from the Lady Buccaneers after struggling offensively for much of the third period and seeing the Dillard lead grow. Despite a productive final quarter, the game was out of reach and the Lady Buccaneers could not erase the deficit.
Phillips led the team with 20 points in this game, marking her second 20-point performance of the season.
“Dillard is considered one of the top teams in our conference, however, we stunned them with our performance in the opening game. Ashukamay’ah and Kashay both had impressive starts,” exclaimed head coach Stephanie Cooper. Unfortunately, a sluggish third quarter halted our momentum, and we were unable to recover and narrow the gap in the fourth. In the second game, our defense faltered in the first half, allowing Dillard to assert their dominance over us.
The Lady Buccaneers will have a swift turnaround as they return home to the Elridge Blake Sports and Fitness Center to face off against Philander Smith University on February 4th. This will mark the Lady Buccaneers’ fourth game in just six days.
