NWF State women ranked No. 1 in nation, Raider men No. 9

Seth Stringer, Northwest Florida Daily News
·2 min read

NICEVILLE — Bart Walker's defending champs are rolling. And the Greg Heiar era — at least through the early stages of non-conference play — looks promising.

Yep, Raider life on the hardwood is good these days.

NWF State coach Bart Walker hoists the cut-down nets after the Raiders defeated Trinity Valley 67-60 in the NJCAA national championship.
NWF State coach Bart Walker hoists the cut-down nets after the Raiders defeated Trinity Valley 67-60 in the NJCAA national championship.

Fresh off a 24-2 run to the NJCAA national championship, Walker's NWF State women are 8-0, ranked No. 1 in the nation and outscoring non-conference foes 70-40 nightly.

That includes marquee wins over 12th-ranked Florida Southwestern State (6-1) and 18th-ranked South Plains (5-3).

So What's working for the Raiders? Try everything.

Defensively, they're holding foes to 29.9% shooting from the floor and 27.7% from 3 while holding a 19.6 rebounding margin and collecting 17 steals per game. No foe has topped 56 points.

Ines Piper scores on a layup as the Northwest Florida State College Lady Raiders played Eastern Florida State College in the NCSAA quarterfinal round at The Arena.
Ines Piper scores on a layup as the Northwest Florida State College Lady Raiders played Eastern Florida State College in the NCSAA quarterfinal round at The Arena.

Offensively, Last-Tear Poa (10.9 points per game), Shelbee Brown (10.7) and Ines Piper (10.2) all average double-digit points, Sabou Gueye's 6.3 boards per game lead the rebounding department and Noelani Cornfield is dishing out a team-best four assists nightly.

The Raider men, meanwhile, looked poised to return to Panhandle Conference relevance under Heiar after missing the Region VIII Tournament both years following the departure of Steve DeMeo in 2019. The Raiders went 6-15 and 3-13 in conference play last season and 12-16 and 0-13 the year prior.

But that's in the past. Now the revitalized Raiders are 9-1, ranked ninth in the nation and outscoring non-conference foes 81.8-63.6, Heiar's crew responding from a 79-75 loss to seventh-ranked Indian River State with a six-game win streak.

So what's working for them?

Foes are shooting just 39.4% from the floor and 32.6% from beyond the arc, all while NWF State sports a 9.4 rebounding margin and is getting at least 9.5 points from six different players.

Tre Clark is averaging 12.3 points per game, Deshawndre Washington is posting 12 points and 8.8 rebounds nightly, Kam Woods is close behind with 11.1 points, Brennan Rigsby is at 10.3 points and Michael Jefferson and Issa Muhammad are both at 9.5 points.

Up next for both programs, the men host Southern Union State on Friday at 7:30 p.m., while the women travel to Santa Fe on Saturday for a 3 p.m. tipoff.

All NWF State home athletic events will be streamed for free live on NWF Live. Fans can find NWF Live by visiting NWFRaiders.com or by downloading the Team1Sports app on any of your mobile or streaming devices.

This article originally appeared on Northwest Florida Daily News: NWF State women ranked No. 1 in nation, Raider men No. 9

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