Posted: Nov 12, 2023
TWIN FALLS, Idaho- The Florida SouthWestern Buccaneers went toe to toe with the 4th ranked College of Southern Idaho Golden Eagles on the road Saturday night in Twin Falls, Idaho, but in front of a big home crowd, CSI was too much for the young Bucs, taking home a 76-63 win to drop FSW to 2-3 on the year.
The Bucs got the first points of the night as Makenna Shaffer knocked down a triple from the wing, but CSI answered back with nine straight of their own to take a 9-3 lead midway through the first. The Bucs battled back into it, but then went ice cold, failing to put a point on the board for the final 2:59 of the quarter to trail it 15-9 at the end of one.
The Bucs drought rolled over to the second as their deficit grew to 19-9 while they continued to go scoreless over the first 3:40 of the quarter. Finally a three from Lisa Le Roy got them back on track and a tough finish on the inside by Shaffer the next time down got the Bucs back to within five at 19-14 with under six minutes to go in the second. Back to back threes from the Golden Eagles quickly cushioned the lead back to double digits before a late three from Ashley Lester drew the Bucs to within nine at the end of 20 minutes of action 34-25.
FSW came out of the break and got a quick bucket from Shaffer to get to within seven, but they could never close any closer. A 3:24 dry spell for the Bucs offense allowed CSI to build back up a 44-29 lead before a turnaround jumper from Georgi Buzzetti and a reverse layup from Roksana Sajdak made it an 11 point game at the end of three, 50-39.
A sweet dish from Lester to Buzzetti in the lane got the Bucs to within shouting distance at 51-43 with 8:43 to go, but as they did all night, the Golden Eagles once again had an answer, scoring the next eight points to take their largest lead of the night at 59-43. The Bucs fought all the way to the finish line, but just couldn't get over the hump against the Golden Eagles as CSI went on to win it 76-63 to remain unbeaten on the season.
Once again the Bucs struggled offensively, shooting just 39% from the field. CSI held a big advantage on the glass, outrebounding the Bucs 49-27 in the game and turning 18 offensive rebounds into 17 points on the night.
Three Bucs finished with 15 points a piece as Le Roy, Shaffer, and Lester combined for 45 of the Bucs 63 points in the game.
FSW falls to 2-3 on the year and conclude their trip to Idaho 1-2 while CSI remains unbeaten at a perfect 5-0 on the year.
The Bucs will now face an extended break before their next game action as they will be idle for three weeks until taking the court again on December 1st in their home opener against Chipola. They will take part in an exhibition on November 25th at Bishop Verot High School when they take on the University of Puerto Rico in a 4:30 PM start.