Relentless Raiders race past Pensacola 84-48

NICEVILLE, FL - If Monday's performance was a mid-term exam for Northwest Florida, as it just so happened to be game 6 out of 12 on the conference slate, the Raiders blew the doors off the grading scale with an A+ in every possible way.  Both ends of the floor were owned by the defending national champions in route to an impressive 84-48 win over Pensacola.  The win broke the first-place tie between NWF and the Pirates in the conference standings, as the Raiders move to 19-1 and 5-1 in conference play and now have sole possession of the top spot in the Panhandle. 

From the jump, the Raiders put to rest any fears of a hangover from Saturday's narrow loss, their first of the season. Pensacola was quickly on their heels thanks to an intense and determined effort on both ends of the court.  NWF held the Pirates to just 18 points at the half in route to taking a commanding 46-18 lead into the locker room and never looked back from there.

Defensively, Pensacola found it tough sledding all evening.  The Raiders forced 26 Pirate turnovers behind 18 steals thanks to an extended full court pressure by the NWF defense.  On offense, the Raiders shared the ball to the tune of 26 assists.  This led to well distributed scoring all across the stat sheet and a red-hot shooting percentage of 58% for the entire game.

The interior presence from Shelbee Brown and Ines Piper were a force on Monday evening.  Brown was a stat stuffer with 18 points, 9 rebounds, and 5 steals.  Piper had a game-high 19 points and Nashani Gilbert got in double figures scoring with 10. 

The Raiders will not have very long to enjoy the win as they get ready to host Tallahassee on Wednesday, January 26 at 5:30 p.m.  Their game will be followed up by the men who will tip-off at 7:30 p.m.

For more information on Northwest Florida State athletics, visit NWFRaiders.com or follow @NWFRaiders on Twitter.