Chipola Wins Two Over Pensacola

By Clint Cox
MARIANNA - The Chipola Lady Indians and Indians basketball squads swept the visiting Pirates of Pensacola Junior College last Saturday night at the Milton H. Johnson Health Center. In the first game of the night Ashlie Billingslea’s running jump shot at the final buzzer of overtime propelled the Lady Indians to a 49-47 victory over the Lady Pirates. Pensacola, which entered the contest unbeaten in conference play, tied at 47-47 with six seconds to play when Billingslea took control and made the game winning shot. Head Coach David Lane was pleased with the win. "We didn’t shoot the ball that well but it was a very gutty effort tonight. We outrebounded them 51-37 and I just thought it was a solid team effort that got us the win," commented Lane. Chipola trailed 26-20 at the half and were tied 42-42 at the end of regulation. Latoya Williams led the way with 14 points and 9 rebounds. Jamia Aikens followed with 12 points and Billingslea chipped in 10 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assist. Chipola, ranked #2 in the state and #8 in the nation, improved to 18-3 overall and 3-1 in conference play. That 3-1 record places them in a three way tie for first place with Pensacola and Gulf Coast.
In the night capper the Chipola Men cruised to a huge 30 point win over the Pirates. Casey Mitchell led the way with 22 points and Justin Brownlee added 14 points. Jeremy Jacob rounded out the Indians in double figures with 14 points. Head Coach Greg Heiar pointed out the play of two Indians that also were key to their victory. Gary Flowers only scored 7 points but he grabbed 10 rebounds and 3 steals. Add to that 8 assist and 5 blocked shots and Flowers had a huge impact on the game. Malcom Armstead also was noted as not scoring a lot of points (2 points) but the point guard steered the Indian offense by dishing out 7 assists and having no turnovers. The Indians, ranked #1 in the nation and state, improved to 20-1 overall and 4-0 in conference play.
Both the men and women will be on the road this Saturday when they play at Tallahassee Community College.