MARIANNA, Fla. – The #10 Chipola Indians (25-4; 9-2 PC) can win the Panhandle Conference Championship outright on Saturday when they square off with Tallahassee Community College (18-11; 4-7 PC). Chipola has already clinched a share of the title but after three years of co-championships, Coach Donnie Tyndall and the Indians would like to claim the school's 28th Panhandle championship alone.
The Indians enter the final contest of the regular season one game ahead of #9 Northwest Florida (24-4; 8-3 PC). Chipola can hold the top spot with a win on Saturday or a Gulf Coast win over the Raiders.
TCC needs a win on Saturday over Chipola in order to finish third in the Panhandle and move on to participate in a play-in game to the State Tournament against the Citrus Conference's sixth place team. With a loss, the Eagles can still come away with third as long as Gulf Coast loses to Northwest Florida. If TCC loses and Gulf Coast wins, the two teams along with Pensacola, would finish in a tie for third. Since the three teams finished 3-3 against one another, the next tie-breaker would be record against the first place team. By virtue of Pensacola's win over Chipola on February 3, the Pirates would advance to the play-in game.
Along with the outright Conference Championship, a series sweep of the Eagles is also on the line for Chipola. The Indians defeated TCC on Homecoming, 83-72, and, on February 10, took down the Eagles on their Homecoming, 78-68.
After defeating Pensacola one week ago, TCC appeared to be poised to take the third slot from the Panhandle. With a chance to punch their ticket to the play-in game, the Eagles lost on their home floor by double digits to Gulf Coast this past Wednesday night.
Games Notes
- Despite their success against TCC in 2024, the Indians have struggled the most with the Eagles in the Donnie Tyndall era. Chipola is 7-5 with TCC over the last four seasons. Tallahassee is the only Panhandle team that Coach Tyndall has not swept in a season series.
- Chipola is 59-3 inside the Milton H. Johnson Center under Coach Donnie Tyndall.
- The Eagles are 2-1 at The Milt this season. On November 24-25, 2023, TCC defeated Miami-Dade and Hinds Community College in the Visit Jackson County MBB Tournament.
STAY CONNECTED
For information and live in-game updates, check out both Chipola Basketball teams on X (Twitter): Chipola Women's Basketball (@ChipolaWBB) & Chipola Men's Basketball (@ChipolaHoops).
Sign up for text message updates to get game scores, updates and other important information about Chipola Athletics. Chipola is the only NJCAA school to use this service: Text Message Opt-In
Stay up to date with all Chipola Athletic Events at www.ChipolaAthletics.com, X (Twitter) - @ChipolaNation, and Facebook - ChipolaAthletics.