The NW women’s basketball team had a tense season. The team ended their regular season with a record of 16 wins and 12 losses. The team moved into the post-season looking to tap into the teamwork that let them win a majority of their games. The Raiders kicked off the post-season with the GPAC tournament. The first game was an away game against the Hastings Broncos. This was a tough matchup to start on for NW as they had fallen to the Broncos twice earlier in the season. The first quarter was heated with both teams playing aggressively. The quarter ended with the Broncos up by 20 points at 46-26. The second quarter was lower scoring but proved to be difficult for the Raiders as Hastings extended their lead finishing the half at 71-42. After halftime the Raiders failed to catch up to Hastings again as the Broncos put up 30 points to NW’s 14. By the end of the quarter Hastings had all but won with a commanding 101-56 lead. However, NW did not throw in the towel and made a strong offensive push scoring 32 points, more than double Hastings’ 15 for the quarter. Sadly, this push was not enough to overcome the Broncos’ dominant lead and NW took the loss with 88 points to Hastings’ 116.
Despite falling early in the GPAC tournament the Raiders hoped to have a stronger outing in the NAIA national tournament. The Raiders played their first round against University of Tennessee Southern on Mar. 13 in Spring Arbor, Michigan. The Raiders first quarter was tense with the Raiders gaining a lead in the opening minutes, however as the quarter continued the Firehawks pulled ahead finishing the quarter ahead 26-14. The Raiders kept pushing in the second quarter narrowing the gap but failing to catch up, finishing the half with a 16-point deficit at 50-34. The third quarter was where the Raiders found their groove as they stopped the Firehawks’ widening of the gap matching their score; 15 points by each team. The Raiders pressed further in the fourth quarter outscoring the Firehawks for the first time with a 30-point quarter, the best of the game from wither team. However, the Firehawks managed to tail the Raiders close enough to maintain their lead finishing out the game with a mere three-point lead. This brought the final tally to 82 Firehawks and 79 Raiders.
Despite their early losses in the post-season tournaments the Raiders still stayed “in the black” this season with 16 wins to only 14 losses. They also had a winning record both on their home court and in away games.
