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•🧑🎓 Who: Northwest Florida State College Lady Raiders, their coach Bart Walker, and key players Mekhia Chase, Nevaeh Scott, Deborah Davenport, and Kyla McBride
•🏀 What: NJCAA women’s basketball tournament, where the Lady Raiders earned a first-round bye
• 📅 When: Their first game is on March 27 at 5:45 PM CT
•📍 Where: Casper, Wyoming, with games broadcast on ESPN+ and the final on ESPNU
•🎯 Why: After finishing as runner-up last season, the Lady Raiders aim to win it all this year
The brackets have been set – but The Lady Raiders at Northwest Florida State College won’t have an opponent until the first-round game contest between Murray State College and Wallace State Community College ends on the evening of March 25.
The Raiders regular season performance impressed the NJCAA organizers enough to earn them one of eight byes through the first round – despite a tough showing against Chipola College in the Region VIII final March 15.
Chipola enters the contest against the field in the number one overall seed. Florida Southwestern State College is the third and final Florida school to make the tournament – giving the Sunshine State an outsized proportion of the field.
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Accoring to the NJCAA website, games from Casper, Wyoming – in rural central Wyoming – will be broadcast on ESPN+. The tournament final will be shown on ESPNU.
Northwest Florida State College will have their first national postseason game on March 27 at 5:45 PM Central Time.
NWFSC Head Coach Bart Walker had the good fortune to retain many of his best players from last year’s National Championship Runner-Up Squad. The plucky Raiders fought back in most of their tournament games to gutsy wins – but did not have enough gas in the tank to defeat #1-ranked Hutchinson in the final match, where they lost 88-80.
If the team wants to make it to the mountaintop this year, they will need to rely on excellent guard play from. Mekhia Chase and Nevaeh Scott, who had a poor shooting night against Chipola in their Region VIII finale – as well as superior post-scoring and defense from Deborah Davenport and Kyla McBride.
