Lady Indians tip off with FCCJ

The No. 3 Chipola Lady Indians will tip off their 2009-2010 regular season on Monday in Jacksonville.

The Lady Indians hit the road to take on FCCJ, a team they defeated Oct. 24 in a preseason jamboree in Tallahassee.

Chipola is coming off of a 30-6 season in 2008-2009, with a state championship and third-place finish at the national tournament. However, the Lady Indians return no players from that team.

Chipola still boasts enough talent to warrant a No. 3 ranking in the National Junior College Athletic Association poll, as well as the No. 2 spot in the Florida
Community College Activities Association poll.

But Lady Indians coach David Lane said his team still has a long way to go to get to a level that justifies the preseason hype.

“We’ve been OK,” the coach said of his team’s preseason performances. “We’ve kind of taken it a little bit slower lately. We’ve really tried to make sure we’re teaching.

“We saw a lot of mistakes on Saturday (in a preseason jamboree in Tallahassee). We were missing things, and the kids are not really understanding it.”

The Lady Indians were sloppy in their preseason win over FCCJ, part of which Lane attributed to a curve ball thrown at his team.

“They played us zone the whole time and we weren’t prepared for that,” the coach said. “It was also on a smaller court, so I think we can run on them a little bit (on Monday), and use our guards to get them to play a faster tempo.”

Lane said FCCJ would provide a nice test for his team to start the season.

“They’re deeper than they’ve been in the past, they’ve got some good kids, and we’re going to their place,” the coach said. “I don’t know what you can expect from either team at this point.

“I hope we can go out and play well enough defensively to carry us through.”

The sixth-year Chipola coach said he didn’t spend much time focusing on FCCJ’s personnel preparing for the preseason game.

“We were more concerned about our stuff,” the coach said. “I’m really not that familiar with their team as far as individual players.

“We need to just be playing well and getting better. Our goal right now is to play better on Monday than we did last Saturday, to be better on Monday than we were Sunday. Games are obviously important, but getting better and improving is something we’re trying to do.”

After Monday’s game, the Lady Indians will get ready for the Milton H. Johnson Classic Nov. 6-7.

Chipola will play No. 14 Monroe in the second game of the Johnson Classic, then follow it up with a rematch with Monroe Nov. 13 in Marianna, in the Holiday Inn Express Alzheimer’s Classic.

The Lady Indians follow that game with three straight against No. 2 Jefferson, No. 5 Trinity Valley and No. 13 Vincennes.