NICEVILLE - Patrick Harrington had already heard the good news.
His team, however, had not, setting up a perfect opportunity for the Northwest Florida State women’s basketball coach to have a little fun.
On Monday morning, Harrington was informed that his Lady Raiders, who finished the 2012-13 season with a 26-4 record, had qualified for their first NJCAA National tournament appearance in 18 years. But when he entered the room to tell his team of their fate, Harrington first put on a somber face.
“I had a little fun with them,” said Harrington. “I started by telling them that they have had a good year, that it was our best year here. Then I handed out some postseason awards that we didn’t get at the tournament the other night. Then I finished by saying ‘Oh yeah, we’ve been invited to play in the national tournament.’ ”
What followed was “pure joy,” according to Harrington.
Their coach’s brief teasing aside, Monday was indeed a banner day for the Lady Raiders, who were given one of four at-large bids for the national tournament, which begins next week in Salina, Kansas. The Lady Raiders will enter the tournament as the No. 11 seed, and they will take on No. 22 Itawamba Community College (Miss.), which won the Region 23 championship.
For sophomore forward Tavarsha Scott, the nature of Monday’s reveal was of little consequence, especially after the Lady Raiders’ disap-point 72-52 loss to Chipola at the Region 8 tournament.
“I’m just glad we get to go,” said Scott, a First Team All-Panhandle Conference selection. “After Friday, it was a long weekend not knowing if our season was over. I was very nervous, but once he told us we were in, I just let it all out. We were running, jumping, screaming…it was a great feeling.”
With that behind them, the Lady Raiders will now head to Salina for the first time since the 1994-95 season, and it’s the first tournament appearance under Harrington.
“Once we lost to Chipola, there was concern,” said Harrington. “You feel like you’ve done a good job and you’re proud of your accomplish-ments, but then again, you never know. Honestly, I was concerned and I told our ladies they needed to be concerned. Last week, we con-trolled our own destiny going into that tournament, then we didn’t play our best. I was worried that the committee would look at our last game and put more weight on that than our entire body of work. Fortunately, they didn’t do that, and they rewarded us on our entire season.”
The Lady Raiders, who tied atop the Panhandle standings with eventual region champ Gulf Coast, will be one of three Panhandle teams in Salina, the most of any conference in the country. Gulf Coast enters Salina as the tournament’s No. 4 seed, while NWF State is 11th and Chipola 16th.
Up first for the Lady Raiders will be a battle-tested Itawamba squad that won the state tournament in Mississippi before winning Region 23.
“I know Itawamba is a good team,” said Harrington. “Any team that wins their region is a good team. For us, it’s the most important game of the year because it’s the next game. We have to make sure we play better than we did against Chipola.
“We’ll look at film and learn more about Itawamba as we go this week, and we will prepare for this game as if it’s the biggest of the season, because it is.”