By: Dustin Kent - JCFloridan.com

The No. 4 Chipola Lady Indians completed the first perfect Panhandle Conference season in program history Saturday night with a 66-51 home victory over the No. 7 Northwest Florida State Lady Raiders.

It was the 17th straight win for the Lady Indians, who finished the regular season 28-1 overall and 12-0 in Panhandle play.

Second-year Chipola coach Greg Franklin said it was important to his team to finish undefeated in the league not just for what it meant to them, but also for what it meant for the school and the community.

"It means a lot to us to give this back to Chipola and to our fans. I was happy to see our fans enjoying it as much as they did," the coach said. "It has been a goal of ours to win the Panhandle Conference and then to win the state championship and then the national championship. It's something we talk about every day in practice and it motivates us every day."

Chipola had already clinched the conference going into Saturday's game against a Northwest team that had clinched the runner-up berth in the state tournament, making the third matchup mostly about pride and the Lady Raiders trying to spoil Chipola's attempt at history.

It appeared early on as if they might just do that, as they took a 10-3 lead to start the game as the Lady Indians struggled mightily at the offensive end of the court.

But sophomore three-point specialist Rahni Bell kept Chipola close with some hot shooting, knocking in four from long distance in the first half en route to a game-high 23 points, with her the third triple cutting the deficit to 15-14 with 8:33 to half.

Northwest used a 12-0 run to surge back in command, with a steal and bucket by Takisha Jordan and a pull-up jumper from Janae Blount making it 27-15 with 2:23 on the clock.

But Bell came up with another big triple to spark a 9-2 closing run, with Tiffany Lewis nailing back to back three-pointers in the final minute to trim the margin to 29-24 at the break.

The second half was all Chipola, as the Lady Indians outscored Northwest 22-5 out of the locker room to turn a five-point deficit into a 12-point lead.

Bell's fifth three-pointer of the night put Chipola in front for the first time since it was 3-2, with consecutive baskets by Evelyn Akhator later on making it 39-33 Lady Indians.

A basket by Treyvonna Brooks, a jumper by Khadijah Ellison, and a free throw by Bell completed the run to make it 46-34 with 10:11 to play.

A bucket by Brittany Martin got the Lady Raiders to within six at 46-40, but they got no closer the rest of the way, with a free throw by Akhator and Bell's sixth triple of the night putting Chipola back up 10 with 6:37 remaining.

Northwest got back to within seven with 1:47 on the clock, but the Lady Indians ended the game on a 10-2 run with all of the points coming from the foul line to seal the victory.

Akhator finished with 19 points, 13 rebounds, three steals, and three blocks, while Simone Westbrook led the Lady Raiders with 14 points and seven rebounds.

Jordan also had 13 points.

Both teams will next compete in the FCSAA state tournament March 5-8 in Ocala.