January 31, 2024
Lagana, Bucs Earn Hard Fought Win to Take Over Second in Citrus
Federica Lagana notched a career high 11 points and 9 rebounds to lead the Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers over the Indian River State Pioneers 65-58 to give the Bucs sole possession of second place in the Citrus Conference standings.
FORT MYERS, Fla.- Federica Lagana notched a career high 11 points and 9 rebounds to lead the Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers over the Indian River State Pioneers 65-58 to give the Bucs sole possession of second place in the Citrus Conference standings.
The Bucs got off to a bit of a slow start, falling behind the Pioneers 13-2 just six minutes into the ballgame. The Bucs finished the quarter on a tear though as Ivy Brown scored on her first touch of her FSW career and Roksana Sajdak put up seven quick points to get the Bucs back to within three at 16-13 at the end of one quarter of action.
A steal and score from Federica Lagana put the Bucs back in front early in the second and Kiana Wilson followed suit midway through the period to make it 23-21 FSW. Lisa Le Roy splashed home a three to pad the Bucs lead to five and they added one more to it before the break as they went to the locker rooms leading the Pioneers 31-25.
The Bucs got hot from outside to start the second half as Ashley Lester popped a pair of threes around a triple from Le Roy to make it 40-34 FSW with 7:02 to go in the third. Wilson slashed to the hole and finished to make it a 10 point game with 4:03 remaining in the third and the Bucs held that advantage to the end of the period at 52-42 as the teams went to the fourth.
Indian River scored the first six points of the fourth quarter to close to within four before Lester hit a three to give the Bucs some breathing room with 6:30 to go. With the game in the balance, the Bucs went nearly five minutes from there without a field goal as the Pioneers snuck back to within four until Brown picked a big moment for her first FSW three pointer, stretching the lead back out to seven at 59-52 with 1:54 to go. It was a five point game with under a minute remaining when things got a little bit sloppy both ways, but the Bucs iced the game at the free throw line as Lagana went a perfect 4-4 to close things out and give FSW a 65-58 victory.
Lagana scored a career high 11 points while adding 9 rebounds and 4 steals in the win while Wilson chipped in 11 on 5-9 shooting. Sajdak had 9 points in 9 minutes of action while Brown scored 7 points and had 7 rebounds in her Buccaneer debut.
The Bucs earn a huge win to improve to 11-8 overall and 7-4 in Citrus Conference play where they jump Indian River for second place in the conference standings as the Pioneers fall to 13-8 and 7-5 in league action.
FSW is back in action on the road on Saturday when they travel to Daytona Beach to take on Daytona State in a 2 PM tip from the Surf Coast.