FORT MYERS, Fla.- Aaliyah Williams tied a career high with 24 points and Blessing King tied her own program record for the second straight game with 21 rebounds as the Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers won a thrilling 78-75 decision over #15 Indian River Thursday night in Suncoast Credit Union Arena. 

 

The Bucs had to fight from behind right off the bat as Indian River scored the first eight points of the night and 12 of the first 14 to take a 12-2 lead just 4:30 into the contest.  Back to back threes from Juliana Gomez got the Bucs on track and a triple from Macarena Retamales moments later had FSW back to within one at 14-13. Indian River got the last bucket of the first quarter, but after the slow start, the Bucs trailed by just three, 16-13 at the end of 10 minutes of action.  

 

As they did in the first, the Bucs got off to another slow start in the second and in just 2:30, the Pioneers stretched their lead back to double digits at 26-16 with 7:30 remaining in the half. The Bucs looked like they were in trouble late in the second as Indian River stretched their lead to 15, but FSW picked up a little bit of momentum before the break, getting it back to a single digit game at 36-27.  

 

Playing in their final home games of their FSW careers, the FSW sophomores took over in the third quarter as Aaliyah Williams, Macarena Retamales and Natalia Tondi scored the first nine points of the second half for the Bucs to get them back to within two at 38-36 just two minutes into the period. An offensive rebound and putback from Blessing King knotted the score at 46 with 4:48 to go in the third and the teams went back and forth before Williams beat the third quarter horn to give FSW a 58-55 lead at the end of three.  

 

Back and forth the Bucs and Pioneers went early in the fourth as the intensity ramped up between the Southern Conference's top two teams.  A Retamales three with 6:25 tied the game back up at 65 after a mini run from Indian River and the score remained tied until Gomez cashed a corner three to give the Bucs the lead back with 4:03 to go. Tondi drove into the lane and got a left handed floater to fall to put the Bucs up five at 74-69, but just when it looked like FSW was going to pull away, a 6-0 burst from the Pioneers had Indian River back in front 75-74 with 1:24 remaining in regulation. On the Bucs next trip down the floor Williams dished to King for an easy two to put the Bucs back in front by one.  After a pair of stops for FSW, the Pioneers were forced to foul with time working against them and Williams finished a 10-11 night from the line by drilling two pressure free throws with under 10 seconds remaining to put the Bucs up three.  Indian River had one last desperation attempt, but it had little chance as the Bucs stood strong, holding on for a 78-75 win to remain alive in their hunt for a sixth straight conference championship.  

 

The key difference came on the glass where the Bucs crushed one of the Nation's best rebounding teams, outpacing the Pioneers almost 2-1 at 52-27 on the boards, including 21 offensive rebounds that led to a 15-0 advantage in second chance points in the game. 

 

Williams tied a career high with 24 points in the win and just missed a double-double with 9 rebounds. Retamales also topped the 20 point mark with 21 while playing all 40 minutes in the game. King dominated in the paint, tying her own school record for the second straight game with 21 rebounds while also adding in 9 points.  

 

The Bucs improve to 16-7 overall on the year and pull within one game of Indian River at the top of the Southern Conference standings with a 5-2 mark.  The Pioneers suffer just their fourth loss of the season, falling to 23-4 overall and 6-1 in league play.  

 

The Bucs will take the weekend off before returning to the floor on Monday on the road in Miami as they look to complete a season sweep of the Miami Dade Sharks in a 5:30 tip.