Posted: Nov 23, 2024
PANAMA CITY, Fla.- Playing a brutal early season schedule, the story of the Florida SouthWestern Buccaneers year thus far has been close but no cigar, dropping three games to ranked opponents by a total of 14 points. Saturday, they made up for that and then some, putting a beatdown on #5 Gulf Coast State as six players scored in double figures including Ivy Brown who lit up the Commodores for 25 as FSW earned their first top five win in over two years with a 95-73 victory in Panama City.
Despite the short turnaround for both teams, the action was hot and heavy early on between the Bucs and the Commodores as FSW used the combination of Ivy Brown Inside and Sarah Owona and Samantha Serrano on the outside to play even with 5th ranked Gulf Coast through one 19-19.
The Bucs caught fire in the second as Gulf Coast had no answer for the FSW offense who saw six different players score in the period. Two more triples from Serrano and a steady dose of Brown and Georgi Buzzetti on the inside pushed the Bucs ahead and gave them a 46-33 lead at the break.
The halftime break didn't slow the Bucs down a bit as Brown took over, scoring 14 points in the quarter to lead a 30 point period for FSW that opened their lead all the way to 76-56 at the end of three.
Gulf Coast made an effort to shut off the Bucs faucet on the inside with Brown and Buzzetti in the fourth, but the Bucs simply turned to their guards to take things over and finish off the win. Asiana Britt put up seven in the fourth and six other players found their way into the scorebook as FSW closed out the game in style, never relenting in a 95-73 victory.
Brown finished with a game high 25 for FSW while five other players scored in double figures for the Bucs. Serrano finished with 14, Britt had 13, Sarah Owona and Roksana Sajdak had we each, and Buzzetti had 11.
The win was the first over a top five ranked opponent since November of 2022 when they stunned #2 Shelton State.
The Bucs improve to 3-3 on the year with the win while handing Gulf Coast State their first loss of the season to drop them to 8-1.
FSW is back in action on Tuesday when they travel to the East Coast of Florida to take on Palm Beach State in a non-conference contest beginning at 5:30 PM.
