DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.- It was a wild game of runs in Daytona on Saturday as the #19 Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers hooked up with the #9 Eastern Florida State Titans for the second time this season. After going back and forth to  a three point game at the half, Eastern pulled away in the second to come away with a 71-63 win to hand FSW their third consecutive loss for just the second time in program history.  

 

Things didn't get off to such a great start for the Bucs as Eastern Florida came out hot, scoring the first seven points of the contest to take an early 7-0 lead.  A three from Macarena Retamales got FSW on track and the Bucs would score the next 16 straight over a 4:32 span to go in front 16-7. The roller coaster continued over the final two minutes of the first quarter as Eastern got the final five to cut the Bucs lead to 16-12 at the end of one.  

 

Eastern carried their momentum over into the second, getting six of the first eight of the quarter to knot the score up at 18.  The Bucs and Titans went back and forth from there with an Aaliyah Williams jumper putting FSW in front 25-24 with 1:25 to go in the half. A pair of free throws put the Titans back in front and they would get three more before the break to put Eastern in front 29-26 as the teams went to the locker rooms at the half.  

 

The Bucs shot an even 50% from the field in the first half, but it was 16 turnovers in the first 20 minutes that pushed then into a three point hole at the break.  

 

A quick three from Retamales to open the second half got the Bucs back to within one, but Eastern would score the next nine to open up their first double figure lead of the game at 38-28 with 6:26 remaining in the third. FSW cut the lead in half with a pair of buckets, but they again struggled to maintain the momentum as Eastern pushed the lead back to a dozen before settling for a 51-40 lead at the end of three.  

 

The Bucs deficit grew to 14 early in the fourth, but just when they were left for dead, they gave it one last push, making it a two possession game at 59-53 after an offensive rebound and putback from Blessing King with 4:48 to go.  That was as close as FSW would get though as Eastern scored the next seven to double their lead before bleeding out the clock for a 71-63 win at the final horn. 

 

The Bucs finished the game shooting 40% from the field and committed only three second half turnovers to finish with 19 in all.  Retamales put up 23 on 9-18 shooting in the losing effort while King put together her second straight solid game off the bench with 9 points and a team best 10 rebounds. 

 

FSW loses their third straight game for just the second time in program history as they fall to .500 at 5-5 on the year while Eastern Florida remains the hottest team in the Sunshine State as they improve to 10-0 on the year.  

 

The Bucs will go back to the drawing board this week before hosting the Rudolph's Roundup Classic in Suncoast Arena next weekend with their first matchup coming Friday against Chipola at 7 PM.