January 12, 2026
Bucs Drop First Place Battle to #22 Daytona
In a game that lived up to it's hype, the Florida SouthWestern Buccaneers and #22 Daytona State Falcons went toe to toe Monday night in a battle of the final two undefeateds in the Citrus Conference, but unfortunately for the Bucs, the Falcons came out on top of a 66-59 decision to take over first place in the league standings.
FORT MYERS, Fla.- In a game that lived up to it's hype, the Florida SouthWestern Buccaneers and #22 Daytona State Falcons went toe to toe Monday night in a battle of the final two undefeateds in the Citrus Conference, but unfortunately for the Bucs, the Falcons came out on top of a 66-59 decision to take over first place in the league standings.
The Bucs got off to a quick start as Arielle Marc nailed a three on their first possession of the game and Kiara Harris hit a triple of her own to put FSW up 10-4 at the first quarter media timeout. Daytona found their rhythm, scoring the next seven to take their first lead of the game and after 10 minutes of action it was Falcons 17 and Bucs 14.
Daytona stretched their lead to six at 24-18 midway through the second before a pair of FSW threes around a Falcon free throw made it a one point game. Points were tough to come by late in the period as Daytona went to the break leading a low scoring battle 30-26.
Harris and Damia Worthy went to work for the Bucs to begin the second half, combining for their first nine points of the period to get FSW back to within one at 36-35 midway through the third. The Bucs continued to make it rain from deep as Harris hit her third three of the game to give FSW the lead and Destinie Gordon connected from the top of the key to give the Bucs their largest lead since the first quarter at 45-39 with 1:58 to go in the third. The Bucs wouldn't score again in the quarter as Daytona closed the period on a 5-0 burst to cut the FSW lead to just one at the end of three 45-44.
Daytona scored the first seven points of the fourth quarter as FSW's scoring drought reached nearly five minutes as the Falcons raced back ahead 51-45. The Bucs kept fighting, cutting it to a two point game at 57-55 on a bucket from Chelsea Bishop with 2:16 to go, but that is as close as they would get as they ran out of time for a comeback with the Falcons finishing it off 66-59.
The Bucs struggled on offense all night, shooting just 36% from the field while turning it over 22 times in the loss. Marc and Harris were the only two Bucs to reach double figures in scoring, each putting up 14 in the losing effort.
FSW sees a five game winning streak come to an end as they fall to 11-6 overall and 4-1 in Citrus Conference play while Daytona State begins their historic start to the season, improving to 13-2 overall and taking over sole possession of first place in the league standings at a perfect 5-0.
The Bucs won't have much time to lick their wounds as they take the court for the third time in five days on Wednesday when they close out a four game homestand with a battle against the Eastern Florida Titans beginning at 5 PM at Suncoast Credit Union Arena in Fort Myers.