FORT MYERS, Fla.- The 2019-2020 season was full of excitement for the Florida SouthWestern State Women's Basketball team.  The squad played its toughest schedule in its fourth year of competition, while winning its third straight Suncoast Conference Championship and earning its second straight bid to the NJCAA National Tournament. 

 

The season started with high expectations for FSW who was coming off of their first trip to the NJCAA National Tournament where they finished 9th.  The Bucs opened the 2019-2020 campaign ranked 8th in the Preseason NJCAA National Rankings, their highest mark in program history. 

 

The Bucs opened the year with a dominating 107-60 win over Central Florida in Suncoast Credit Union Arena, in what would be the first of four 100+ performances for FSW on the year.  The next night, they faced a stiff test as they took on defending National Champions and #1 ranked Gulf Coast State.  The Bucs came out firing, building up a 19 point second half lead on the Commodores before the wheels came off.  Gulf Coast made their run to work their way back into the game before a circus shot tied the game in the closing seconds to send the game to overtime. In the extra period, it was all Commodores who came out with a 97-89 win to give the Bucs their first loss on the season.  

 

The next weekend FSW made a return trip to play in Gulf Coast's classic in Panama City.  On Friday they picked up their first of four wins over ranked opponents on the season, hammering #21 Georgia Highlands 97-68 to improve to 2-1 on the year.  That set up another showdown with Gulf Coast, this time on the Commodores' home floor.  Once again the Bucs took it to Gulf Coast early, building a 19 point second half lead for the second straight week against the nation's top ranked team, but the game followed an eerily similar script as FSW went cold as Gulf Coast heated up, eventually seeing the Commodores storm all the way back to tie the game and 62 before hitting an elbow jumper to win the game with just seconds remaining on the clock.  

 

A new highlight to the Bucs' 2019-2020 schedule was a trip to the Midland WNIT, the NJCAA's top regular season tournament each season.  The Bucs won their opening game against Hill 75-54 and had leads in each of their next two games against #3 Trinity Valley and #13 Midland, but eventually lost both games late to settle for a 5th place finish.  

 

Sitting at 4-4 on the year after dropping just four games the entire 2018-2019 season, the Bucs were at a crossroads.  Faced with a decision to fold their tent or make a run, the Purple and Aqua chose the second option, winning eight straight to close November and begin December to quickly improve to 12-4 on the year.  During the streak, the Bucs earned a win over #21 Pensacola State and three over state tournament participants in Santa Fe and Miami Dade.  Their streak came to an end on the third to last day of the year as they dropped a hard fought 69-63 battle to #6 Chipola to close 2019 at 12-5.  

 

The new year brought conference play to the Bucs who began defense of their 2019 Suncoast Conference title with a 64-56 win over St. Petersburg at home in Fort Myers.  Hitting the road for the first time in conference play at Hillsborough, the Bucs put on a show, opening the contest by scoring the first 18 points before taking a 33-10 lead after one quarter of action.  Za'Nautica Downs took over from there, shattering the school's single game scoring record by putting up 41 as FSW rolled to a 100-67 win over the Hawks.  

 

After a pair of non-conference wins, the Bucs were set for a Suncoast showdown with #24 Eastern Florida on the road in Melbourne.  The Bucs took an early lead, but a 16-0 Eastern run midway through gave the Titans a 10 point second half lead.  That's when the Bucs stepped up to the plate, evening things up midway through the fourth before pulling throgh for a 93-86 win to improve to 3-0 in conference play.  

 

The Bucs had to play comeback kids again their next time out against St. Petersburg as they faced their largest deficit of the season to that point, digging themselves into a 17 point hole with just 16 minutes remaining against the Titans. They finished the third on an 18-3 run to make it a two point game as they went to the fourth and took their first lead of the game with 6:27 remaining.  The two teams battled to a draw at the end of 40 minutes and went to overtime where they outlasted the Titans by two 88-86 for their sixth straight win. 

 

FSW closed out January with two more victories to finish the month 8-0 ahead of another battle with Eastern Florida, this time on the Bucs' home turf.  It was a top 25 fight between the 14th ranked Bucs and 22nd ranked Titans and it lived up to the billing.  After 20 minutes of play the two were separated by just two points with FSW up 38-36 at the half before extending that lead to five at the end of three.  The Bucs looked like they were in the clear, leading by 10 early in the fourth, but Eastern roared back to tie the game at 76 with just under a minute to go.  Nairimar Vargas-Reyes hit a free throw to give the Bucs a one point lead in the closing seconds and the Titans never got off a shot to try to win it as FSW hung on for a 77-76 win to remain unbeaten in conference play. 

 

The Bucs officially clinched their third straight Suncoast Conference Championship with a 92-75 romp at home against St. Petersburg and pushed their winning streak to 12 with wins over Hillsborough and Impact Academy to close out their home schedule.  

 

The Bucs slipped up in their final conference game of the year at Eastern Florida to snap a 20 game Suncoast Conference winning streak for FSW spanning over three seasons.  

 

Next up for FSW was a trip to Niceville and the FCSAA State Tournament where in an unfortunate twist for the Bucs, the bracket rewarded them for their Conference Championship with a date against #6 Gulf Coast State for the third time on the year.  The Bucs went toe to toe with the Commodores early on, but a late first half run for Gulf Coast gave them a seven point lead into the half and FSW was never able to recover as they fell 73-64 to end their tournament run.  

 

For the second straight year, the Bucs now had to put their hopes of a National Tournament berth in the hands of the NJCAA At-Large committee and with a top 15 schedule, 24 wins, and a #12 National Ranking, FSW felt good about their chances.  Their dreams once again came true as they were announced as the #10 seed for the tournament, slated to match up with #22 Murray State in the opening round of the tournament in Lubbock, Texas.  

 

Unfortunately for the Bucs, the COVID-19 Pandemic was just heating up and in the span of just 72 hours, the Bucs' elation went to heartbreak as it was announced that the tournament was postponed to late April and then just days later, canceled for good as their 2019-2020 campaign came to a close at 24-7 with all seven losses coming to teams ranked in the NJCAA Top 25. 

 

At season's end, the Bucs had five players named to the Suncoast Conference All-Conference teams.  Downs was named the Player of the Year, the third straight in the conference for FSW, while Head Coach Kristy Ward-Cangelosi earned her third straight Coach of the Year award.  Sheslanie Laureano was a 1st Team All-Conference pick with Downs while Vargas-Reyes, Simone Lett, and Cabria Lewis were all 2nd Team All-Conference picks.  Downs was also named an All-State selection by the FCSAA.  

 

World Exposure also honored three Bucs in their postseason awards as Downs was named a finalist for the organization's National Player of the Year award and was named a 2nd Team All-American while Laureano was a finalist for their National Freshman of the Year award and Assistant Coach Rabun Wright a finalist for the National Assistant Coach of the Year.  

 

While nobody could have predicted the path that the Bucs' 2019-2020 season would take, it was an interesting one nonetheless. With 20 wins for the fourth straight season, their third straight Suncoast Conference Championship, and their second straight bid to the NJCAA National Tournament, it was another year for the record books for the Bucs.  Stay tuned to FSWBucs.com and @FSWBucs on social media in the coming weeks to find out where your 2020 FSW sophomores will sign to continue their academic and playing careers.