MARIANNA, Fla. – The #25 Lady Indians look to catch the defending NJCAA Champions, and number three ranked, Raiders at a good time when they meet for the second time this season on Wednesday at the Milton H. Johnson Center.

Chipola (18-4; 2-2 PC) defeated TCC on Saturday, 87-47, to lock down third place in the Panhandle after the first round of competition. The Raiders, a team accustomed to blowing out their opponents, suffered through a 32-point loss at the hands of the Lady Commodores from Gulf Coast. It was the first loss of the season for the defending NJCAA Champions and their first loss since falling to Eastern Florida in the State Championship game last season.

First half dooms the Lady Indians in the first meeting

Chipola started slow in their first conference game of the John Marcum era back on January 13 at Raider Arena. The Raiders jumped out to a 37-18 halftime lead and never looked back.

Victoria Morales matched the Raiders leading scorer of the night, Celia Riviere, with 18 points but Chipola never got much going against the more experienced Raiders and fell 76-48.

Jasmine Jones is back

The Lady Indians have been without their second leading scorer, sophomore Jasmine Jones, since suffering an injury on December 29 against Santa Fe.

She made her return on Saturday against the Eagles and tied teammate Tahnyjia Purifoy with a game-high 17 points.

Lady Indians holding down third in standings

In the new conference alignments in the state, the Panhandle automatically receives three bids to the women's basketball state tournament at the end of the season. After one round of conference play, the Lady Indians are a game ahead of Pensacola for third place and one game behind the Raiders for second.

Gulf Coast leads the conference at 4-0 and Tallahassee is at the bottom at 0-4.

Games Notes

• The Raiders have won the last seven games against the Lady Indians. Chipola's last win over the Raiders was on January 22, 2022. The Lady Indians defeated Northwest Florida that day, 52-50, at The Milton H. Johnson Center in Marianna.
• Despite only playing one game last week, sophomore Tahnyjia Purifoy is still among the leaders in the nation in points scored. The Pensacola native has 416 points which is good enough for fifth in NJCAA D1 women's basketball.
• The Lady Indians are 11^th in NJCAA D1 women's basketball in three pointers per game at 8.1. Chipola is 8^th in the country at holding their opponents to just a 23.1 percent three-point shooting.
• Both the Raiders and the Lady Indians are in the top ten in points allowed. The Raiders are second at 44.8 and Chipola is ninth at 52.0 pointes per game.

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