As Northwest Florida State College enters its next-to-last regular season contest tonight at Panhandle Conference foe Pensacola State, both the men's and women's teams arrive on a mission.

For the men, still ranked No. 1 in the FCSAA the task is simple: Win tonight and secure the conference's regular season title.

NWF State (23-1, 9-1) has won seven straight entering tonight's 7:30 tipoff. In that seven-game winning streak, only the Raiders 68-64 win at Tallahassee provided any real drama, as NWF State has been on a roll since its 75-68 overtime loss at Pensacola State (21-5, 6-3).

"We have a lot of respect for Pensacola," Raiders coach Steve Forbes said. "They have a good home court advantage over there. It's like I told our team, 'We've had a great year, but do you want to have a special year?'

"There's a difference, in my mind, between being great and being special. If you want it to be special you have to win these kind of games."

The road has been a bit bumpier for the NWF State women.

The fifth-ranked Raiders (21-5, 5-5) have stumbled since opening the season with 18-straight wins, winning just three of their last eight. Still, the Raiders enter tonight's game sitting third in the conference standings with two games to go.

But as head coach Patrick Harrington is prone to say, the next game is the biggest game.

Top-ranked Pensacola State (21-3, 7-2) has won each of the previous two meetings between the two schools.

"Pensacola is a heck of a challenge," Harrington said. "They are a very good basketball team. We need to hooked up and come to play on the defensive end and play with great effort, rebound the basketball and do the little things."

The women’s game gets under way at 5:30 p.m. tonight.