December 10, 2021
Hot Shooting DME Shocks Bucs at Home
Two weeks ago on the road in Daytona, the #11 Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers easily handled DME Academy in a 19 point victory. The Bucs saw DME again on Friday at home in Suncoast Arena, except this time DME's roster looked a little bit different and it paid off for the Prep School as DME shot a blistering 61% from the field to stun FSW 85-79, bringing the Bucs seven game winning streak to a screeching halt.
FORT MYERS, Fla.- Two weeks ago on the road in Daytona, the #11 Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers easily handled DME Academy in a 19 point victory. The Bucs saw DME again on Friday at home in Suncoast Arena, except this time DME's roster looked a little bit different and it paid off for the Prep School as DME shot a blistering 61% from the field to stun FSW 85-79, bringing the Bucs seven game winning streak to a screeching halt.
It was the Jayla Murray show for the Bucs early on as the freshman put up six points in the first four minutes of the contest to push FSW out to an 11-4 lead out of the gates. After DME trimmed the Bucs lead to three, Murray continued her dominance in the paint, getting the final two buckets of the first quarter to stretch FSW's lead back to seven at 23-16 after one quarter of play.
DME came out hot in the second and quickly erased the Bucs lead and took their first lead of the game at 26-25 three minutes into the period. DME took their largest lead of the half at 36-31 with 3:28 to go in the half, but the Bucs found their rhythm into the locker rooms, scoring 13 of the final 17 points of the half, led by seven from Macarena Retamales to retake a 44-40 advantage after 20 minutes of action.
The Bucs looked like they had a handle on things as Murray and Retamales scored the first six points of the half for the Purple and Aqua to push their lead to its largest of the game at 50-42 two minutes into the third. That's where things turned South on FSW. DME caught fire from there, outscoring the Bucs 16-2 over the next five minutes, turning an eight point FSW lead into a six point lead of their own at 58-52 with 2:17 to go in the third. Back to back threes from Murray and Natalia Tondi evened things back up momentarily until DME hit a jumper at the third quarter horn to take a 60-58 lead at the end of three.
DME scored the first five points of the fourth quarter to take their largest lead of the game at 65-58. The Bucs battled back to draw within two until Aaliyah Williams knocked down a pair of free throws to knot the score back up at 69 midway through the period. DME scored on their next possession to go up two, but Retamlaes drained one from downtown to put the Bucs back in front with 4:27 to go. The Bucs lead was short-lived as DME continued to knock down shots from all over the court, scoring the next six points to retake a five point lead at 77-72 with 2:25 remaining. A nearly four minute field goal drought for the Bucs finally came to an end with under a minute to go with Tondi knocked down her second three of the game to make it a three point game, but DME took care of business enough at the free throw line down the stretch to close the Bucs out 85-79 to send the home crowd home stunned.
The Bucs final shooting line was respectable as they shot 46% from the field, 45% from three, and 73% from the free throw line, but it was no comparison to DME who torched the nets for 61% shooting on the night. Murray led the Bucs with a team high 22 points and 6 rebounds while Sariana Rodriguez added 15 and Retamales finished with 14.
The Bucs see a seven game win streak come to an end as they fall to 7-2 on the year.
FSW won't have long to lick their wounds as they will be right back at it Saturday at 4:00 when they face Odessa who fell in their matchup with fellow Southern Conference foe Indian River Friday afternoon.
For complete coverage of Rudolph's Roundup Tournament at Suncoast Arena this weekend CLICK HERE.
