Posted: Feb 15, 2023
LAKE WORTH, Fla.- The Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers won their fifth straight game on Wednesday, going on the road and defeating the Palm Beach State Panthers 69-60 to improve to 18-7 on the year.
The Bucs fell behind early in the first quarter as Palm Beach came out hot, jumping out to a 10-6 lead four minutes into the game. FSW worked their way back in and a bank shot from Aaliyah Williams put the Bucs up 13-12 with 2:00 to go in the period. The Bucs were blanked over the final two minutes of the quarter however and a buzzer beating jumper from the Panthers gave Palm Beach a 14-13 lead at the end of one.
The Bucs started opening things up as the second quarter got underway and a full court pass from Macarena Retamales to Natalia Tondi for an easy two made it a seven point game, 27-20 in favor of FSW midway through the period. Palm Beach wouldn't let the Bucs run away though, trimming it back to a two possession game before the half at 35-30.
FSW's run of strong third quarters continued on Wednesday as they held Palm Beach to just four field goals defensively and stretched their lead to double digits at 51-40 at the end of 30 minutes of action.
The Bucs opened it up to a 15 point game midway through the fourth and looked like they were on their way to a blowout victory, but Palm Beach wasn't going to let that happen on their home floor as they cut the Bucs lead all the way down to just six with 2:00 to go before FSW dribbled out a 69-60 win at the final horn.
It wasn't the prettiest offensive performance for the Bucs who shot under 40% and went just 2-12 from three point land in the win, but four players scored in double figures, led by Williams' 18 and 13 from Kiana Wilson off the bench. Blessing King had her third 20 rebound game in FSW's past four outings while also chipping in 8 points.
FSW wins their fifth straight to improve to 18-7 on the year while Palm Beach drops to 14-10.
The Bucs are now idle for the next 10 days before taking the court again on February 25th in their regular season finale against Hillsborough in Tampa. FSW has already sewed up a second place finish in the Southern Conference standings, giving them a spot in March's Region VIII Tournament in Niceville.