by By: Stephen Wagner
ST. THOMAS, U.S. Virgin Islands (GreenBayPhoenix.com) – Green Bay and Virginia were the first teams to clash in this year’s Paradise Jam, taking the floor at the UVI Sports and Fitness Center in St. Thomas, USVI. The Phoenix (2-1) started hot and led by double digits (10 points) at the end of the first quarter, but the Cavaliers (5-0) used the second half to claw their way back into the game and hand the Phoenix its first loss of 2015-16, 68-59.
Lexi Weitzer provided the first offensive spark of the day for the Phoenix, scoring a season-high six points inside the first three and a half minutes of play. Weitzer’s early contributions helped the Phoenix surge out to a 13-point advantage (22-9) with a little over a minute to play in the first quarter.
Virginia started to figure things out in the second quarter and for the most part played even with the Phoenix, scoring 13 points to Green Bay’s 12. At halftime, Green Bay headed to the locker room holding a 36-27 lead over the tough ACC opponent. Tesha Buck (Mdewakanton Sioux) had already logged 17 points at halftime, eventually tying her career-high mark of 24 points scored in last year’s Horizon League championship against Wright State.
The Phoenix opened the second half seeming a bit sluggish and allowed Virginia to erase the Phoenix lead rather quickly. With 2:46 left in the third quarter, the Cavaliers took their first lead since the score was 2-0 in the first quarter. Green Bay was never able to gain control of the game from that point on, ultimately falling to the Cavaliers 68-59.
“I didn’t think we did enough offensively or defensively today, head coach Kevin Borseth said. “We like to have a defensive mindset and we let them back into it a little bit, and then let them get away from us.”
“They’re a really good team and it’s nice to come to a tournament like this and compete with teams of their caliber. We got out of rhythm a little bit in the third quarter and it seemed like we weren’t really able to get out bearings back until late in the fourth.”
Senior Kaili Lukan added nine points to the Phoenix tally and pulled down five rebounds. Sophomore Jessica Lindstrom tied her career high in rebounds that set early this season against Marquette with 10.
Green Bay held the advantage in rebounds 30-26 over Virginia, but lost the turnover battle 22-16.
Green Bay will face Tulane tomorrow at 12 p.m. (CT) as it continues play in the Paradise Jam. Links to the game can be found below.
