Chipola smothers Palm Beach in 63-38 win

By: Dustin Kent - JCFloridan.com

The Chipola Lady Indians have been winning all season with stifling defense, and they sent a message Thursday night that they brought that defense with them to Ocala for the FCSAA Region VII tournament, holding No. 23 Palm Beach State to a season-low 38 points in a 63-38 victory.

The win was the 18th in a row for the No. 4 Lady Indians (29-1), advanced to Friday's semifinal round against the winner of Thursday night's late game between Florida State College at Jacksonville and Indian River State.

Chipola used a 24-2 run spanning 11 minutes of the second half to run away with Thursday's game, with Evelyn Akhator leading the way by scoring 15 of her game-high 19 points after halftime.

Tiffany Lewis added 13 points and Rahni Bell 11 for Chipola, with the sharpshooting duo combining to knock in 6-of-11 from deep.

The game was a rematch of a Dec. 21 meeting that the Lady Indians won 59-48 in Lake Worth despite being without Akhator, starting point guard Diamonisha Sophus, and key reserve Sueterrica Key.

Palm Beach State looked early on like it could turn the tables on Chipola after a three-pointer by Ashley Jones made it 12-6 Lady Panthers four minutes into the game.

But a three-pointer by Bell and a two-point jumper by Lewis cut the margin to one, with a pair of free throws by Brianna Wright after drawing Jones' second foul with 9:50 to halftime tied the game 15-15.

A transition two from Treyvonna Brooks put Chipola up for good, with a three from Lewis, a long two from Bell, and a triple from Bell completing a 14-0 run to put the Lady Indians up 25-15.

It was 25-19 before Akhator scored her first two buckets of the game to close the half and put Chipola back up 10, and the Panhandle Conference Player of the Year continued to go to work in the second half.

After three-pointers by Tashi Thompson and Courtney Murphy brought the Lady Panthers to within five at 34-29, Chipola ratcheted up the defense with Akhator pestering Palm Beach at both ends of the court.

After a pair of free throws by Akhator and a driving bucket by Khadijah Ellison made it 38-29, Akhator added a free throw and a basket, and then came up with a steal and finished the play with a fast-break layup off of a feed from Lewis to extend the lead to 14.

Lewis added a three-pointer and a transition layup of her own on a pass from Ellison following another Palm Beach turnover to make it 50-31 with 11:28 remaining.

Ellison scored on a slashing drive to the rim, with Sophus coming up with a steal and two on the next play, Janisha Lindsey converting another turnover into two, and Akhator grabbing an offensive rebound and sticking it back to make it 58-31 Lady Indians with just over five minutes to play.

A three-pointer by Jones finally ended the run with 4:58 left in the game, giving the Lady Panthers just their second made field goal over an 11-minute span.

Jones, the Southern Conference Player of the Year, was limited to 20 minutes of action due to foul trouble and finished tied for the team lead with Murphy for points with nine.

Palm Beach State came in as one of the biggest teams in the tournament, but that size was negated by Chipola's defensive pressure, as the Lady Indians scored 32 points off of 30 forced turnovers.

Chipola had 20 steals as a team, with Akhator leading the way with six, followed by three each from Bell and Sophus, with the latter also adding seven assists.