#TCCBasketball: Eagle women falter late vs. NWF State

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (February 3, 2018) – An 8-0 run with less than two minutes to play sent Northwest Florida State College past Tallahassee Community College, 62-56, on Saturday evening in women's basketball action. 

Tallahassee (18-4) has lost consecutive games for the first time all season and is now 3-4 in Panhandle Conference play, two games back of the second-place Raiders (6-2) in the loss column with five to play. 

Trailing 54-47 with 4:36 left in the game, Tallahassee scored seven unanswered points, the last on a pair of free throws by Juliunn Redmond, to tie the game with 3:33 remaining.   

The Eagles didn't score again until Japonica James hit two free throws with three seconds left. 

The game was still tied as the clock went inside two minutes. Then, with 1:51 left, Trinity Baptiste scored off one of Tallahassee's 26 turnovers to give the Raiders a 56-54 lead. 

The Raiders tacked on six more points – four coming as a result of Tallahassee miscues – to complete the decisive 8-0 run.

Slow starts in the first and third quarters doomed Tallahassee on Saturday. 

Northwest Florida State scored the first nine points of the game and led 14-2 six minutes in. Tallahassee was down 22-10 after the first quarter and eventually trailed by as many as 17 (30-13) before making a charge. 

James scored nine straight points for the Eagles, who outscored the Raiders, 16-3, over the final five minutes of the second quarter and trailed only 33-29 at the half. 

Northwest Florida State wrestled the momentum back with a 9-1 run to open the third and eventually extended its lead back to as many as 13. The Eagles had another answer, however, and closed the quarter on a 13-4 run over the final four minutes. 

James finished with a game-high 23 points for Tallahassee. Nakiah Black added 10. 

Tallahassee will return to play on Wednesday when it travels to Pensacola State College. Game time is 6:30 p.m. eastern.