Women's basketball team heads north for Northwest Florida State College Tournament

The Eastern Florida State College women's basketball team will be competing in the Northwest Florida State College Tournament this weekend in Niceville.

The Titans come into the tournament 8-2 on the season and will open the tournament with an unbeaten Pearl River Community College Friday at 2 p.m.

Pearl River comes into the tournament 9-0 and boast one of the best defenses in the country, allowing 46.3 points per game which is fourth best in NJCAA Division I women's basketball. Seven players are averaging at least 6.6 points per game this season.

Then on Saturday the Titans will play Bishop State Community College at 2 p.m. Bishop State has hit a rough stretch, facing some of the best teams in the nation after a strong start and comes into the weekend 4-6. Cardasia Harris is averaging a double double for the Wildcats, scoring 13.3 points and grabbing 12.8 rebounds per game while teammate Tenequa Rhodes is averaging 12.9 points this season.

"This is a great opportunity for us to go up to Northwest Florida and play on the court where the state tournament will be held," Eastern Florida State College women's basketball coach MJ Baker said. "We will be challenged by a good Pearl River team who has not lost yet this season and then we play Bishop State who is a very well coached team as well, so the girls will be challenged on the road and this early in the season we want them to be challenged and see how they respond on the road."

Eastern Florida State College has four players averaging at least nine points per game led by Rapuluchi Ngorka who comes into the weekend averaging 15.7 points and 13.2 rebounds and was named the Region 8 Player of the Week.

"Our theme is strength in numbers and we have good, strong depth. Everyone is just as strong as the person standing next to them and that is a good thing," Baker said. "How we perform this weekend as a team will reflect how we do, it is not an individual game for us, it is definitely a team game for us."

The Titans will be back at Titan Field House Dec. 18 against Hillsborough Community College at noon. The game will be shown live online on the EFSC Titans YouTube page.