Indians Find The Going Rough In Panhandle Conference Play

By Clint Cox

The Chipola Indians basketball squads find themselves in uncharted territory as they have gotten off to a slow start in Panhandle Conference basketball action. Both teams concluded their first tour of duty, so to speak, in the conference this past Tuesday night in Tallahassee and both are at or near the bottom of the conference after one round of conference play.

One the women’s side of the street hard times are not just in their record and conference play. The Lady Indians have played their last two conference games with just seven players dressed out. While both games saw improvements over their first two outings against Gulf Coast and Pensacola, both games saw the ladies somewhat run out of gas in the final moments of the contest. Last Saturday night the Lady Indians fell to the Lady Raiders of Northwest Florida State College (NWFSC) by a score of 76-63. That score is not indicative of just how close the game was through 36 of the 40 minutes. After a see saw battle through 36 minutes Chipola led 63-62 with four minutes to play. But those final four minutes proved to be the difference as NWFSC went on a 14-0 run to pull away for the 13 point victory. Bianca Jarrett led Chipola with 25 points and was followed by Cayla Walker with 11 and Ty O’Neil with 10 points.

Tuesday night’s contest in Tallahassee saw the Lady Indians come out red hot as Jarrett, O’Neil and Lindsey Carr got Chipola a 15 point lead with 7 minutes to play in the first half. But the Lady Eagles mounted a rally and cut Chipola’s lead to 40-34 at the half. Chipola shot 60% from the field in the first half. Jarrett and O’Neil continued their hot shooting in the second half and with 8 ½ minutes to play the game was tied 50-50. Tallahassee pulled away for a 7 point lead but Chipola rallied to get the game back to 3 points with 17 seconds remaining. But the Lady Eagles thwarted the come back attempt and held on for a 69-64 win. Jarrett hit 25 points while O’Neil added 15. Carr finished with 11 points on the evening. The Lady Indians fell to 10-10 overall and 0-4 in conference play.

The men’s team has not found the going any easier. After narrowly escaping with a close win over Gulf Coast to open the conference season, the Indians have struggled. In this past Saturday’s game against NWFSC the Indians stayed within striking distance most of the night. But each time they would make a run at the Raiders NWFSC would answer and push their lead back to double digits. Chipola trailed 38-31 at the half but the Raiders quickly pushed that lead to 12 in the second half. That 12 point lead held for the final as the Raiders won 86-74. Four Indians were in double figures as Keith DeWitt led the way with 17 points. Dexter Ellington followed with 14, Lashay Page had 12 and Aaron Davis hit 10.

In Tallahassee on Tuesday night the Indians hung close through the first 13 minutes of the first half. The game featured three ties and five lead changes during those first 13 minutes.
But in the closing moments of the half the Eagles went on a run and took a 38-30 halftime lead. The second half was all Tallahassee as it seemed as if they had put a lid over the Indian basket. Tallahassee outscored the Indians 31-19 in the second half to post a 69-49 victory. John Taylor led Chipola with 14 points. The Indians fell to 16-4 overall and 1-3 in conference play. Both the men and women are off for a week and will begin their second tour of duty next Wednesday in Panama City against Gulf Coast.