November 14, 2025
Turnovers Costly For Bucs in Home Opening Loss
Despite outshooting the visiting Western Wyoming Mustangs from both the field and the three point line Friday night in their home opener at Suncoast Credit Union Arena, the #18 Florida SouthWestern Buccaneers fell 61-58 after committing 26 turnovers which turned into 28 points for the Mustangs on the night.
FORT MYERS, Fla.- Despite outshooting the visiting Western Wyoming Mustangs from both the field and the three point line Friday night in their home opener at Suncoast Credit Union Arena, the #18 Florida SouthWestern Buccaneers fell 61-58 after committing 26 turnovers which turned into 28 points for the Mustangs on the night.
Kiara Harris drilled a three on the Bucs first possession Friday night to give FSW their first lead of the game, but they went scoreless over the next 6:21 as Western Wyoming flipped the script and took a 9-3 lead after 6:30 gone by. Two more threes from Harris and Chelsea Bishop got the Bucs back to within two and a pair of late free throws cut the Mustang lead to just 12-11 at the end of one quarter of action.
The Bucs continued to play catch up until the midway point of the second when Rannon Suttle put her head down and got to the basket for a tough two to give FSW their first lead since the opening seconds of the game at 21-20. Bishop picked off a pass and took it the other way for two to stretch the Bucs lead to nine at 31-22 with 2:30 to go in the half, but FSW wouldn't get another field goal in the period and had to settle for a 32-27 lead after 20 minutes of play.
Hard fought buckets from Delfina Cergneux and Destinie Gordon bumped the Bucs lead back up to eight early in the third quarter and with 3:12 to go in the period it was FSW with their largest lead of the game at 46-34. Western Wyoming turned up the heat defensively from there, speeding the Bucs up and causing a rash of turnovers, outscoring the Bucs 11-0 to close the quarter and cut the FSW lead to just one at the end of three 46-45.
The teams traded threes early in the fourth to swap the lead back and forth until they found themselves tied once again at 50 with 7:15 remaining. The Bucs turned it over on three straight possessions to allow Western Wyoming to jump in front and FSW would never see the lead again. The Bucs drew back to within one three times in the final five minutes, but could never get over the hump as a last second desperation three came up well short at the horn as FSW fell 61-58.
The Bucs shot 43% from the field and 36% from three on the night while Western Wyoming shot just 37% and 15% respectively, but it was 26 FSW turnovers which turned into 28 Mustang points which made the difference.
Harris led the Bucs with 15 points on 5 of 8 from three while Bishop and Damia Worthy each added a dozen and Gordon hauled in a game high 11 rebounds.
FSW falls to 2-2 on the year with the loss while Western Wyoming improves to 3-2.
The Bucs don't have much time to lick their wounds as they are right back in action on Saturday at 2 PM when they host the defending National Champion Northwest Florida Raiders to close out the weekend.
