FORT MYERS, Fla.- A season ago, the Northwest Florida State Raiders played for a National Championship in Casper, Wyoming. Saturday afternoon in Suncoast Credit Union Arena, the Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers took them to the wire, erasing a late 13 point deficit to tie the game in the final minute before coming up just short in a 60-56 defeat to wrap up the FSW Classic in Fort Myers. 

 

The Bucs got off to a bit of a slow start against the Raiders on Saturday, needing over three minutes to get on the scoreboard for the first time, but their defense was locked in and ready to go from the jump, holding Northwest Florida to just seven points through the first five minutes of the contest to keep the game tied midway through the first. A three from Samantha Serrano gave the Bucs their first lead of the game six minutes in and the teams went back and forth until a late bucket for the Raiders gave Northwest Florida a 17-14 advantage after one quarter of action. 

 

Another Serrano triple early in the second knotted the score back up, but the Bucs struggled to find the hoop from there, going over eight minutes without a field goal to put themselves in a 26-21 hole as the teams went to the half. 

 

Serrano tried to single handedly keep the Bucs in the game as the second half got underway, scoring FSW's first six points of the third quarter to get the Bucs back to within two at 29-27 with 7:08 to go in the period. A jumper from Sarah Owona tied the score before Asiana Britt found the sophomore for an easy two to put the Bucs ahead 31-29 with 5:29 remaining in the quarter. Northwest Florida scored 11 straight from there, erasing the Bucs lead and taking a 40-31 lead of their own with under two minutes left in the quarter. The deficit grew for FSW before the end of the period as they went to the fourth in trouble, trailing 43-33. 

 

The Bucs looked like they were in trouble, trailing the #2 ranked Raiders by 13 at 48-35 with just 7:06 to go, but the 2024 version of the Purple and Aqua wasn't quite ready to go down without a fight.  Serrano continued her big weekend with a coast to coast finish to start a personal 7-0 run to cut the deficit in half before an eight footer from Georgi Buzzetti made it a four point game at 55-51 with under two minutes to go. Down two with under a minute remaining, Serrano stepped to the free throw line and knocked down two clutch charities to tie the score at 56 with 48 seconds to go in regulation.  Northwest Florida scored out of a timeout to regain the lead and the Bucs had a chance to tie it with a shot on the inside on the other end, but couldn't finish and the Raiders cleared the class and knocked down a pair of free throws to finishing things off 60-56. 

 

The Bucs shot just 36% in the contest, but limited themselves to 13 turnovers while Northwest turned it over 23 times to keep the game close. Serrano broke out yet again, setting a new career high in scoring for the second straight game, putting up 28 points in 39 minutes of work while Buzzetti went for 8 points and 10 rebounds and Britt dished out a game high 8 assists. 

 

FSW splits for the second straight weekend to fall to 2-2 while Northwest Florida remains unbeaten at 7-0. 

 

It won't take long for the Bucs to have their chance at revenge as the same two teams hook up on Friday in Panama City Beach in a 2 PM tip off at the Gulf Coast Classic.