FORT MYERS, Fla.- After suffering a bit of a hangover early in Saturday's game against Denmark Tech following their big win over Chipola on Friday, the Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers put together a huge second half to blow away the Panthers 73-32 to win their second straight in Rudolph's Roundup Tournament at Suncoast Credit Union Arena. 

 

FSW couldn't have gotten off to much of a worse start on Saturday, managing just a single basket through the first six minutes of the game as they fell behind Denmark Tech 9-2 to begin the contest. Kiana Wilson drove to the basket and got one to fall to get the Bucs back on track and trimmed the Panthers lead to four at the end of one at 13-9.  FSW shot just 17% in the quarter, going 3-18 from the field in the first 10 minutes of action.  

 

The Bucs still looked like they were in trouble three minutes into the second as they continued to trail it by four, 16-12, but back to back buckets from Aaliyah Williams and Blessing King tied the score and started FSW on a 16-0 run that flipped the script and put the Bucs in front 28-16 with 2:00 left in the half.  Points were tough to come by in the final two minutes of the half and thus FSW went to the break at the half leading it 29-19. 

 

The second half was all FSW from the start.  The Bucs put together an early 9-0 run in the third quarter behind three straight three pointers from Natalia Tondi and Shaniya Rose to open up a 38-21 lead and midway through the period a transition lay in for Kiana Wilson gave FSW their first 20 point lead of the game at 48-27.  The Bucs went on to outscore the Panthers 28-10 in the quarter to take a commanding 57-29 lead at the end of three.  

 

It was more of the same as the fourth quarter began as Juliana Gomez picked off a steal and passed it ahead for an easy two from Macarena Retamales to put the Bucs up 30 and a pair of threes from Ekaterina Shchepotkina made it a 67-32 game midway through the period. It wasn't just the Bucs offense getting the job done though as they held Denmark without a single point over the final 7:04 of the contest, eventually running the score up to 73-32 at the final horn. 

 

The Bucs dominated the glass, outrebounding Denmark Tech 57-39 on the night including 23 offensive boards that they turned into 15 points.  Tondi led the way with 13 points on the night while Retamales filled up the stat sheet with 10 points, 8 assists, and 6 rebounds without a single turnover.  

 

The Bucs win their second straight to improve to 7-5 on the year while Denmark Tech falls to 5-8.  

 

FSW will look to finish off the weekend in style on Sunday as they take on Daytona State in a 5 PM tip off.  At halftime of the Bucs game with the Falcons, the 2022 FSW Softball Team will receive their NJCAA National Championship rings.