Chipola Men & Women Each Get Two Road Wins

By Clint Cox

The Chipola basketball squads have been on the road this past week but the road has been good to both teams as each picked up two road wins on this trip. The Indians traveled to Ocala to take part in the Florida Shootout and beat Palm Beach 89-73 on Friday night. They followed that win up with a 65-57 win over Hillsborough on Saturday night. The Indians led by as many as 18 points in the second half before allowing Hillsborough to close the gap in the final moments. Marvin Fitzgerald and Lashay Page led the Indians with 14 points each.

The men improved to 11-1 on the season and Head Coach Jake Headrick feels good about the squad. “To end the first semester with an 11-1 record is good. Given all the new players that we’ve got I’m very happy with where we are at as a team,” said Headrick. The men will now be off for a week and then come back to play four games in four days. They’ll travel to Panama City for games on December 28 & 29 and then travel to Pensacola for contest on December 30 and 31. They will open conference play on January 9th when they host Gulf Coast. The Indians are currently ranked #2 in the State, behind #1 Northwest Florida State College, and #8 in the nation.

The Lady Indians didn’t have to travel as far as they went west to Pensacola to take part in the Lady Pirate Classic. On Friday they picked up 68-57 win over Wallace State-Hanceville. Saturday’s match up was with another Wallace, Lurleen B. Wallace, and the ladies won that game 68-41. Chipola struggled in the first half but came out and played better in the second half. They were led in scoring by Bianca Jarrett with 18 points and Lindsey Carr with 14. Kendra Powell followed with 11 points and Ty O’Neal chipped in 10 points as well.

The Lady Indians came off the road for a home game on Monday against Central Florida and in a heartbreaker lost 53-52. The Lady Indians were up 52-51 with four seconds left but missed 3 free throws. Central Florida got the ball, threw it down court and got a layup at the buzzer to win the game. Chipola is now 9-6 on the season and will be off for the next two weeks. They will return to action on January 2, 2010 when they travel to Ocala for a rematch with Central Florida. The ladies are currently ranked #8 in the state. Panhandle Conference foe Gulf Coast is ranked #1 in the state and nation.