FORT MYERS, Fla.- The Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers gave it their best shot Wednesday night in front of their home crowd in Suncoast Credit Union Arena in Fort Myers, but at the end of the day, the #9 Eastern Florida State Titans, winners of 17 games in a row, were just too much as the Titans edged out the Bucs late 75-67 to all but seal up the inaugural Citrus Conference Championship. 

 

Both teams came out on fire in a matchup of the top two teams in the Citrus Conference standings. FSW and Eastern traded blow for blow early on, putting up a combined 25 points in the first five minutes of the contest with the Titans leading it 14-11. For the final five minutes of the first though, it was all Eastern Florida as the Titans closed the quarter on a 9-4 run, opening up their lead to 23-15 at the end of one quarter of action. 

 

The Bucs didn't go away as an old fashioned three point play followed by a long ball from Makenna Shaffer put six quick points on the board and got FSW back to within five at 28-23 three minutes into the second. The teams traded baskets to 37-32 and then to 42-36 before a late bucket for the Titans gave them an eight point lead into the break at 44-36. 

 

Last time the Bucs and Titans hooked up, FSW missed their first 15 shots of the second half.  In this one, sophomore Kiana Wilson made sure that wouldn't repeat itself as she knifed through the lane and scored on the Bucs first possession of the second half to make it a six point game at 44-38. Eastern continued to hold a six point advantage through the middle portion of the quarter until Ashley Lester banged a three from the corner to make it a one possession game at 49-46 with 3:35 to go in the third. the Bucs cut it to a two point game with a finish on the inside from Ivy Brown with under 20 seconds left in the quarter, but Eastern Florida beat the buzzer to steal the momentum back and take a 55-51 lead at the end of three. 

 

Early in the fourth Lester buried her fourth three of the night to make it a one point game at 55-54, but just as they did all game long, the Titans had an answer as they nailed a triple of their own to push the lead back to four. FSW never let the Titans, a team who hasn't lost since November 11th, pull away as it remained a nip and tuck game with two minutes to go after Federica Lagana nailed a wing three to make it a 71-65 game. In the end, the Bucs couldn't string together enough stops to pull off the upset though as Eastern Florida went on to take it 75-67. 

 

The Bucs put together one of their better shooting nights of the year as they shot 43% from the field and 46% from the three point line in the loss.  Lester finished with 21 for FSW while Shaffer added 14 points and a team high 8 rebounds. 

 

FSW falls to 12-9 overall and 8-5 in conference play with the loss while Eastern Florida wins their 18^th straight to improve to 19-3 overall and takes an almost insurmountable 5 ½ game lead in the Citrus Conference standings as they remain unbeaten at 14-0 in league play. 

 

The Bucs finally get a bit of a reprieve from a busy schedule to start 2024 as they won't take the court again until next Tuesday when they travel to Tampa to battle Hillsborough in the two team's third meeting of the season.