FORT MYERS, FLA.- The #17 Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers got sweet revenge on Tuesday night, taking down DME Academy, one of two teams to knock them off this season, 89-51 in Suncoast Credit Union Arena to improve to 11-2 on the year.
Tied at six early on, the Bucs got a three from Za'Nautica Downs in the corner to give them a 9-6 lead that they wouldn't give up the rest of the night. Another bucket from Downs moments later stretched the FSW lead to seven and they would take a nine point, 21-12 lead at the end of the first quarter as Shondell Vickers finished in the paint in with under a minute to go.
The Bucs shot just 38% in the quarter, but held DME to just 29% while forcing 7 DME turnovers and outrebounding the Sports Academy 17-9.
Nairimar Vargas-Reyes hit from downtown to give FSW their first double digit lead of the game early in the second and Tina Stephens finished off an old fashioned three point play to made it a 13 point game at 29-16 with 7:02 remaining in the half. Another and-one from Stephens gave the Bucs an 18 point lead late in the half and they would go to the break in front of DME 40-23.
FSW shot 42% in the half while keeping DME to just seven first half field goals and 26% shooting. The Bucs were led by Stephens who had 13 in the first 20 minutes of action while Vargas-Reyes had 7 first half points and Vickers had 6.
Downs found Simone Lett in the paint early to get the scoring going in the second half and the Bucs used the momentum to open up their largest lead of the game at 24 midway through the third when Downs picked up her third hoop of the night. FSW added to their lead before the end of the quarter, taking a 26 point, 63-37 lead after three.
Anna-Maria Hoffman came off the FSW bench and poured in five straight points to make it a 72-41 early in the fourth and the Bucs continued to push to the final horn to run away with an 89-51 win.
FSW finished the game shooting 43% from the field and 28% from the three point line while holding DME to a dreadful 26% overall and just 18% from distance. The enhanced numbers showed an even more dominating effort by the Bucs as they outscored DME 52-18 in the paint and 28-11 on second chance points as well as holding a 34-0 advantage in scoring from their bench.
Four different Bucs scored in double figures in the win including Stephens who finished with 15 and Lett and Vickers who each had 14.
FSW wins their sixth straight to improve to 11-2 on the year while DME falls to 2-7.
The Bucs will be back in action this weekend when they travel to Lake Worth to take part in the Palm Beach State Classic, taking on Indian River Saturday before battling the host Panthers Sunday afternoon at 4:00.
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SUNCOAST CREDIT UNION ARENA
The Buccaneers compete in the brand new Suncoast Credit Union Arena. Suncoast Credit Union Arena is approximately 75,000 square feet and is home to the FSW basketball teams and a student athletic center. The arena seats approximately 3,300 fans and includes six skyboxes, a hospitality event center, competition courts that convert into recreational courts, athletic office space, student, faculty and staff wellness, and an athletic center with a fitness pavilion, men's and women's locker rooms and a weight training area. The arena has two Daktronics displays, on the north and south walls, that each measure 10 feet high by 20 feet wide. Both displays incorporate variable content zoning to each show one large image or they can be divided into multiple windows to show any variety of live video, instant replays, up-to-the-minute statistics, graphics and animations, and sponsorship messages. One-hundred feet of ribbon displays have been installed on the east and west walls of the arena. The ribbons provide the opportunity to supplement the content on the main displays as well as highlight sponsors throughout events.