MIAMI, Fla.- Aaliyah Williams scored a career high 26 and Natalia Tondi followed suit with 17 as the Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers cruised past the Miami Dade Sharks 76-58 Monday to clinch their spot in the FCSAA State Tournament next month. 

 

It was an entertaining first five minutes of action as Natalia Tondi hit a pair of early threes and Miami Dade came out hot with the game tied at 8-8 at the first media timeout of the night.  The teams continued trading blow for blow with Kiana Wilson beating the first quarter horn for the Bucs to cut the Miami Dade lead to 18-17 after 10 minutes of heated action. 

 

The second quarter was completely the opposite as a ball didn't go through the basket until 3:06 into the period and each team had just four points midway through the period as Miami Dade continued to lead it by one, 22-21.  From there on, it was all FSW.  Aaliyah Williams scored five straight to put the Bucs up 26-22 and late threes from Juliana Gomez and Macarena Retamales gave FSW a 33-25 lead and all the momentum going into the locker rooms at the half. 

 

The break didn't slow the Bucs down as Williams scored the first five out of the half and then Blessing King finished a three point play to blow the FSW lead all the way up to 46-27 on the back of a 25-6 run. Violette Skipworth came in off the Bucs bench and made an immediate impact, scoring seven points in just four minutes to push the Bucs lead to 20 and by the end of the third quarter it was all FSW with the Bucs leading it 63-36. 

 

The Bucs put things in cruise control in the fourth as their starters watched from the sidelines most of the period before finishing off a 76-58 victory to clinch their spot in the postseason. 

 

Williams finished with a career high 26 on 11-13 shooting while Tondi also notched her career high with 17 including a 5-8 effort from downtown. King topped the 10 rebound mark for the eighth time in the past nine games with 13 and narrowly missed a double-double by chipping in 9 points on 3-6 shooting.  

 

FSW improves to 17-7 overall and 6-2 in Southern Conference play with the win, punching their ticket to the FCSAA State Tournament next month in Niceville.  Miami Dade falls to 5-22 overall and sees their slim chances of a playoff run erased by the Bucs as they drop to 2-6 in conference action with one game to go. 

 

The Bucs take a quick trip out of conference on Wednesday as they travel to Lake Worth to take on Palm Beach State for the second time this season before taking a 10 day break before their regular season finale against Hillsborough on February 25^th in Tampa.