Lady Indians get rare road win over Gulf Coast

For just the second time in Chipola coach David Lane’s nine seasons at the school, the No. 13 Lady Indians beat No. 5 Gulf Coast in Panama City on Wednesday night.

Chipola was just 1-11 in its last 12 trips to Gulf Coast, but the Lady Indians dominated on Wednesday, taking the lead at 3-2 and never relinquishing it in a 55-47 victory.

The win brings the Lady Indians (16-8) to 4-4 in the Panhandle Conference and into a third place tie with Northwest Florida State, and just a game behind 5-3 Gulf Coast (18-4) for second.

The Lady Indians still have a lot of work to do to solidify one of the top three spots in the conference that result in state tournament berths, but Wednesday’s win makes the road a lot more manageable.

“In every game there’s going to be a lot of pressure, but had we lost, every one would be close to an elimination game and we’d have to hope to get some help,” Lane said. “Now, we can just focus on handling our own business and not worry about anything else.”

Despite losing starting center Jeniece Johnson to foul trouble less than three minutes into the first half, Chipola dominated the action at both ends, going up 30-13 before five straight points to close the half by Gulf Coast made it 30-18 at the break.

The Lady Commodores rallied in the second half to cut the margin to two points with just over six minutes to play, but Chipola answered with six straight points to push the lead back to eight and held Gulf Coast in check the rest of the way .

Lane said it was one of the most solid performances at both ends of the court for his team all year.

“I don’t think we could’ve played better defense the first 19 minutes of the game,” he said. “We didn’t play great in the second half, but the biggest key was we didn’t turn it over and we didn’t take many bad shots. Those are the things that always give Gulf Coast fast break opportunities, and we didn’t give them many of those.”

The Lady Commodores scored 72 points in the first meeting between the teams in a 9-point win on Jan. 21, but they found the going much harder in the rematch.

“In the nine years I’ve been here, that’s the worst I’ve ever seen Gulf Coast shoot, and by far the worst I’ve seen them shoot at home,” Lane said. “That was a part of it, but we missed and matched some defenses, made some adjustments, and kind of got them out of rhythm, especially in the first half.

“We forced them to make some bad passes and take some tough shots, and we did a pretty good job on the defensive glass. It also helped that we got a lot of the 50-50 balls. We were running them down all night.”

Sara Djassi led Chipola with 16 points, with O’Neal Session adding 15.

But the Lady Indians still have more work to do with a road game Saturday against Tallahassee followed by a home match-up with Northwest Florida State on Tuesday, a game which could go a long way towards determining who does and does not make the state tourney.

“We’ve got a tough stretch with three games in six days, but hopefully this win gives us some confidence going into that third time through (the league schedule),” Lane said. “We’ve got to learn from losses and victories, learn what allows you to be successful and continue to do it. That’s what we’ve been trying to stress.”