NICEVILLE,  Fla.- The #12 Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers opened their 2025 postseason run with a victory Wednesday afternoon in Niceville, dominating from wire to wire in a 64-42 win over the Pensacola State Pirates in the first round of the FCSAA Tournament. 

 

The Bucs came out ready to go, jumping out to a quick 5-0 lead in the first minute of action, but the turnover bug bit them from there as they failed to score in the next three minutes as Pensacola closed the gap to 5-4. A three from Sarah Owona broke the scoring drought, but from there it was nearly four minutes before either team got a basket again, thankfully for FSW it was Delfina Cergneux with an offensive rebound and put back to put the Bucs up 10-4. Owona and Samantha Serrano hit threes in the final two minutes of the quarter and FSW would wind up holding Pensacola without a single point for the final 6:46 of the period to take a 16-4 lead at the end of one. 

 

Things remained ugly in the second as FSW had trouble taking care of the ball and Pensacola couldn't buy a bucket as the Bucs continued to lead it 20-9 midway through the quarter. Back to back threes from Serrano and Elina Briede padded the lead to 26-12 and at the break it was the Bucs doubling up the Pirates 28-14. 

 

The Bucs came out a different team in the second half as the ball started moving around and easy buckets began presenting themselves.  Ivy Brown found Georgi Buzzetti on a perfectly executed high/low to put the Bucs up 39-18 and moments later the duo did it the other way around to cushion the lead to 48-22. Pensacola scored six of the final eight points of the quarter, but at the end of three it was all FSW with the Bucs leading 50-28. 

 

The Bucs continued to roll as Buzzetti found Owona on a back cut for a layup to make it 58-30 early in the fourth and Roksana Sajdak knocked down a jumper to keep the Bucs up big with 4:14 remaining in the contest. The Bucs didn't score in the final 3:17, but they didn't need to as their big lead was more than enough to stand up for victory and FSW went on to win it 64-42. 

 

The Bucs shot 47% from the field and 43% from the three point line in the win while holding Pensacola to just 25% shooting. FSW dominated the glass, outrebounding the Pirates 52-28. The Bucs won big despite committing 24 turnovers and cashing in on just 36% of their free throw attempts on the afternoon. 

 

Owona continued her late season heater, scoring a team high 17 points while also notching 7 rebounds and 6 assists.  Buzzetti scored 16 points on 8 of 12 shooting and filled up the stat sheet with 8 rebounds and 4 blocked shots.  Serrano matched Buzzetti with 16 points on 5 of 10 from the field and 3 of 7 from three. 

 

FSW wins their ninth straight to improve to 24-4 on the year while Pensacola's season comes to an end at 19-12. 

 

The Bucs move onto the FCSAA Semifinals on Friday where they will take on #4 Chipola with a trip to the Championship Game on the line in a 2 PM (ET) tip from Raider Arena.