Indians Split With Tallahassee

The Chipola Indians men’s and women’s basketball squads played host to Tallahassee this past Saturday night for homecoming and came away with a split on the court. In ladies action the Lady Indians battled hard but came up short in a 66-59 loss. Three Lady Indians were in double figures as Bianca Jarrett led the way with 24 points. Ty O’Neil followed with 16 and Melesha Petterson added 12. The Lady Indians trailed 27-22 at the half and made several runs at the Lady Eagles. But Tallahassee answered each of those runs as Mansa El got hot from beyond the 3 point arch and racked up 24 points on six 3 pointers. With the loss Chipola fell to 1-7 in conference play and 11-13 overall.

The Indians shook up their starting lineup and the shake up paid off as they came out red hot. Aaron Davis was launching 3 pointers from all sides of the court as Chipola jumped out to a huge early lead. Chipola would lead by as many as 21 points in the first half before Tallahassee finally began to respond. A 3 pointer by Tallahassee at the first half buzzer cut the Indians lead to 13 as Chipola led 44-31 going into the locker room. The second half saw Chipola build their lead back up to as many as 17 but again Tallahassee mounted a furious comeback in the closing moments of the game. Chipola was up by 13 points with 3 ½ minutes to play but Tallahassee cut the lead with each possession. The Eagles had a last second shot to tie the game but Chipola prevailed with a 71-69 win. The men improved to 3-5 in conference play and 18-6 overall. Davis led the Indians with 14 points, John Taylor followed with 12 and Dexter Ellington chipped in 11.

Both squads have had a week off and are busy preparing for an upcoming match on Saturday at home when they play host to Gulf Coast.