By: Dustin Kent - JCFloridan.com 

In their first game of the nation's No. 1 team, the Chipola Lady Indians didn't exactly look like the best team in America for much of the way, but the end result was just what you'd expect, as they notched a 67-58 victory over No. 10 Florida State College at Jacksonville on Friday in Ocala.

Chipola struggled early on against the Blue Wave but finished the half strong to go up 27-22 before blowing the game open in the second half and going up by as much as 22 points.

But the Lady Indians were unable to put the game away at the free throw line, missing 17-of-34 attempts at the charity stripe, including three front ends of one-and-ones.

Blue Wave leading scorer Samaria Howard took full advantage and scored 17 points in the second half to will her team back into the game and to within four points with five minutes to play.

That was as close as they got, however, with freshman center Evelyn Akhator helping the Lady Indians close it out with a monster second-half effort, posting 15 points, 10 rebounds, and six blocked shots after halftime after being held to just two points and one rebound in the first 20 minutes of action.

"We got a little more focused and got the basketball where it need to be for us to be able to score," Chipola coach Greg Franklin said after the game. "We were getting good looks and having several different people scoring, but we just weren't finishing at the free throw line. We missed way too many and that's something we have to address."

To beat a top 10 team in the country and the No. 3 team in the state while shooting so poorly at the foul line is impressive, but the coach said the missed free throws and the sloppy play early on are trends that cannot continue if the Lady Indians are going to achieve their biggest goals this season.

"I feel good about (the win), but I also know that if you want to win the big show, you can't have lulls like that," he said.

Chipola was scheduled to play St. Petersburg on Saturday night before taking the next week off and returning to action Dec. 19-21 at Palm Beach State College for games against Wake Tech, Patrick Henry, and Palm Beach State