Lady Indians defeat Eastern Arizona at the buzzer to advance

The Lady Indians led by as many as nineteen but needed a three pointer from freshman Shimei Muhammad at the buzzer to defeat Eastern Arizona in the second round of the NJCAA Women's Basketball Tournament in Lubbock, Texas.

Chipola took control of the game early and led for more than 36 minutes but the Gila Monsters scored 30 in the fourth quarter to tie the score with under a minute remaining. Eastern Arizona had possession of the ball with 15 seconds remaining but Chipola's defensive pressure forced a turnover on the opposite end of the floor with 4.9 seconds remaining.

Coach Greg Franklin used a timeout to set up the final play but more importantly was able to advance the ball to right in front of his bench. Shimei Muhammad threw the ball into Isadora Sousa who drove the ball under the goal but was cut off. She kicked the ball out to the free throw line to Brenda McKinney. McKinney quickly shuffled the ball to Shimei Muhammad at the top of the key where she drained it as the horn sounded.

The Lady Indians had to overcome an excessive number of fouls called in the first half. After the first twenty minutes of play, four of Chipola's nine players had at least three fouls. In all 73 free throw attempts were made in the game and fifty-four fouls were called.

Chipola used a strong third period to carry a seventeen-point lead going into the final quarter of play. The Lady Indians held the Gila Monsters to just eight points in the third on 4-of 13 shooting. The Lady Indians kept Eastern Arizona from scoring for nearly four minutes in the quarter while building their lead. 

The Lady Indians (19-4) will play Thursday night at 7 PM in the quarterfinals against #11 seed Tyler Junior College, who advanced with a 72-53 win over #6 seed South Georgia Tech.

Tournament Notes

• Three of the top eight seeds lost in the second round. Along with #6 seed South Georgia Tech goind down, number one seed Jones Community College lost to 16th seed Western Nebraska on Tuesday, 63-60 and the number 8 seed Casper College fell to 9th seeded Three Rivers College.
• The other Panhandle Conference team remaining in the tournament, Northwest Florida, defeated Otero Junior College, 67-43. The Raiders will take on #4 seed South Plains College at 5 PM on Thursday.
• South Plains and Chipola are the only two schools remaining with teams in the Elite Eight of the Women's and the Men's National Tournament.