FGCU: Swain carries women to 82-57 victory

The Florida Gulf Coast University senior center took a pounding from the two, three and sometimes four Rio Piedras' players who hounded her whenever she touched the ball.

Yet Swain survived the physical onslaught to score 22 points and snare a game-high 12 rebounds as FGCU outran Rio Piedras 82-57 in the Hillmyer-Tremont Tip-Off Tournament at Alico Arena.

The FGCU men's game against Rio Piedras was still in progress at press time.

The Eagles (2-2) had trouble with Rio Piedras early, but used a 17-5 run to close the first half and lead 42-29 at the break.

"I thought we got off to a little bit of a slow start," Swain said.

"We just need to play for 40 minutes."

Despite giving away size at every position, Rio Piedras con sistently attacked the basket. It resulted in a lot of contact, 41 turnovers, 61 fouls and 90 free throws.

"They were scrappy, I'll give them that," Swain said. "But then I was like, give me the basketball and let me put it in."

Andrea Clarke scored a season- high 17 points and Megan Jones added 14 for FGCU. Still, head coach Karl Smesko said he'd like to see his team play more disciplined defense.

"We're not used to putting a team on the line 50 times in one game," Smesko said. "We don't have to put our hands down when we try and block shots. We don't have to reach."

FGCU held Rio Piedras to 22 percent shooting, though the Eagles did give up 24 offensive rebounds.

"We're not real good yet," Smesko said. "We have lots to progress on. We're not taking care of the ball like we need to."

FGCU takes on Puerto Rico- Bayamon tonight at 6 p.m.

American International 74, Puerto Rico-Bayamon 65

Megan Ladley scored 22 points, hitting 6-of-9 from 3-point range to lift American International (Mass.) past Puerto Rico-Bayamon in the Hillmyer-Tremont Tip-Off Classic.

Bayamon (0-1) led 38-27 at the half, but American International shot 53 percent in the second half to win going away.

Sharmion Selman scored 15 points for American International (2-0) while Tiffany Wooten added 11 points and 13 rebounds.

Yahimily Cabrera led Bayamon with 20 points while Yoliana Cabrera grabbed eight rebounds to go with 20 points.

Bayamon shot just 33 percent in the second half and was just 4-of-15 from 3-point range on the game.

American International plays Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras today at 2 p.m. while Bayamon takes on FGCU at 6.

FGCU 82

PUERTO RICO-RIO PIEDRAS 57

PUERTO RICO-RIO PIEDRAS (0-2)

Buxo 2-8 7-9 12, De LaPaz 3-5 6-11 12, Cruz 2-10 6-8 10, Ruiz 2-9 3-6 7, M. Rivera 1-3 2-6 4, Santiago 1-5 2-2 4, O. Rivera 1-4 0-0 2, Diaz 1-1 0-0 2, Lopez 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 14-63 28-50 57. FLORIDA GULF COAST (2-2)

Swain 7-9 8-12 22, Clarke 4-8 9-10 17, Jones 5-8 2-2 14, Myers 3-7 0-0 8, Duverglas 1-2 3-6 5, Lee 2-3 0-6 4, McGinest 2-10 0-0 4, McCallum 1-3 1-2 3, Bratt 1-2 1-2 3, Francis 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 27-53 24-40 82.

Halftime-FGCU 42, Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras 29.

3-point goals- Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras 1-9 (Buxo 1-2, Ruiz 0-3, Cruz 0-1, Rodriguez 0-1, Santiago 0-1, Lopez 0-1), FGCU 4-10 (Myers 2-3, Jones 2-5, Bratt 0-1, McGinest 0-1). Fouled out- Nunez (Rio Piedras), McCallum (FGCU). Rebounds-Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras 44 (De LaPaz 7), FGCU 46 (Swain 12). Assists-Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras 4 (Cruz 2), FGCU 11 (Jones 5). Total fouls- Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras 29, FGCU 32.

AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL 74

PUERTO RICO-BAYAMON 65

PUERTO RICO-BAYAMON (0-1)

Escalera 3-13 0-0 6, Tapia 6-8 3-4 15, Yo. Cabrera 8-19 4-4 20, Moura 1-4 0-2 2, Rosado 2-6 2-2- 7, Galvez 1-5 1-2 3, Colon 0-1 0-0 0, M. Feliciano 0-1 0-0 0, Colon 0-0 0-0 0, R. Feliciano 0-0 0-0 0.

Totals 24-64 13-18 65.

AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL (2-0)

Selman 7-14, 0-0 14, Wooten 3-8 5-8 11, Carter 1-2 2-2 5, Ladley 8-14 0-0 22, Murphy 3-7 0-1 6, Wyatt 2-8 5-6 9, Rubino 1-4 2-4 4, Pierre 0-0 1-2 1, Sampson 1-3 0-0 2, Burns 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-60 15-23 75.

Halftime- Puerto Rico-Bayamon 38, American 27.

3-point goals- Puerto Rico-Bayamon 4-15 (Yo.

Cabrera 3-7, Rosado 1-3, Escalera 0-3, Ya. Cabrera 0-1, Moura 0-1), American 7-15 (Ladley 6-9, Carter 1-2, Wyatt 0-2, Murphy 0-1, Sampson 0-1).

Fouled out- none. Rebounds-Puerto Rico-Bayamon 32 (Yo. Cabrera 8), American 39 (Wooten 13). Assists-Puerto Rico-Bayamon 7 (Ya. Cabrera 3), American 12 (Carter 5). Total fouls- Puerto Rico-Bayamon 19, American 21.