#3 Lady Indians complete season sweep of the Lady Pirates with 47-46 win

MARIANNA, Fla. – For the fourth time in five games, the #3 Lady Indians found themselves without the lead as they went to the locker room at halftime. Playing without their leading scorer, Kanija Daniel, Chipola needed someone to step up and that came in the form of freshman, Trinity Carmouche.

Carmouche recorded her first double-double with a career-high 16 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Lady Indians to a 47-46 come from behind victory.

Chipola dominated Pensacola State on the boards, 53-28, led by Daniya McDonald with 13. The freshman added 8 points for the Lady Indians, just missing a double-double of her own.

To balance out, the Lady Indians' advantage on the boards, the Lady Pirates forced 34 turnovers. It appeared throughout much of the game that Pensacola's pressure would be too much for the Lady Indians.

With three minutes remaining in the third quarter, Pensacola took their largest lead of the game, 35-24, after they caught Chipola not getting back on defense for an easy bucket. Following the make, Pensacola would go almost ten minutes of game clock without a field goal.

The Lady Indians began to show life in the waning minutes of the third, to close the gap to 40-33 heading into the final ten minutes.

15-0 run leads to victory

After Chipola scored the last three points of the third quarter, Carmouche received an inbound pass under the goal from Ahmani Klabunde and layed it in for two to pull within five and nine minutes left on the clock.

After the Lady Pirates could not convert on an open three from the wing or a putback on the rebound, Carmouche rebounded the ball and got it out to Arielle Facyson. Facyson fed the ball down low to Jailynn Brill who backed down her defender and put it to close the score to 40-37 after two minutes of play.

With 7:17 left in the game, Aniyah Ruddock passed the ball off to Tyra Brown, half way down the lane, and she redirected it to Carmouche under the goal to close within one.

Pensacola remained cold on their end of the floor and the Lady Indians took advantage. McDonald put the Lady Indians up by one with 5:52 remaining in the game after she drove to the goal past her defender, who fell down right in front of the Chipola bench.

At the 4:47 mark, Facyson took a handoff from Brill at the top of the key, drove it down the right side of the lane, and finished to give Chipola their largest lead of the game with 4:30 left in the game.

Pensacola would end the 15-0 and get their first field goal since the 6:51 mark of the third quarter following a Chipola turnover with just under four minutes left to play. Audreonia Benson, who was the Lady Pirates' leading scorer in the game with 14, received a pass at the wing and converted her third three-point basket to make the score 45-43.

With 2:32 left in the game, the Lady Pirates converted on a pair of free throws to even the score at 45-45.

As she had done earlier in the quarter, McDonald gave Chipola back the lead with 2:15 on the clock. McDonald received a pass from Ruddock along the baseline, drove in and converted on the turnaround jumper to take a 47-45 advantage.

The Lady Pirates would have six opportunities to tie or take the lead in the final two minutes of play. Chipola would only get one shot at the goal in the final two minutes and did not get an opportunity from the line.

Following a Chipola turnover with 49.4 seconds, Pensacola's Benson had a clear path to the goal but McDonald ran her down to contest the layup and was called for a foul. Benson converted on the second free throw to pull within one.

Chipola would survive the final seconds despite being hit and pushed around by the other eight people on the court to move to 24-2 overall and 6-2 in the Panhandle Conference.

Up Next

At 6-2 in conference, Chipola remains in control of their own destiny despite trailing Northwest Florida by one game. If Chipola can win their remaining Panhandle games, they will earn at least a share of the conference title.

The Lady Indians will look to take the season series with #10 Gulf Coast on Wednesday night at 5:15. Both teams have won on their home floor in the two previous meetings this season. Chipola will get the opportunity to build on their half-game lead over the Lady Commodores at The Milt.

Game Notes

• TICKET PUNCHED: With the win, Chipola secured its spot in the FCSAA/Region VIII Tournament in Niceville on March 12-15. Northwest Florida has also punched their ticket. Gulf Coast can secure their place in the tournament with a win or a Tallahassee loss. The four automatic berths from the Citrus Conference have already been secured: Florida SouthWestern, Eastern Florida, Miami Dade, and Hillsborough. This season, the eighth participant will be selected from the fifth-place finisher in the Citrus Conference and the fourth-place finisher from the Panhandle Conference.
• LITTLE HOUSEKEEPING: For the first time since the 2018-2019 season, Chipola won all three meetings with the Lady Pirates to sweep the season series. The sweep included two wins at Hartsell Arena. The Lady Indians had not won twice in one season in Pensacola since the 2015-2016 season.
• WHERE'S THE FOUL: Chipola continues to lead NJCAA D1 in free throws made per game (17.7) and free throws attempted per game (26.2). Chipola only went to the free throw line 17 times against Pensacola and, in their previous game against Northwest Florida, they made 16 trips to the line.
• BATTLE ON THE BOARDS: Chipola also leads NJCAA D1 in total rebounds per game (54.7) and defensive rebounds per game (36.6). Chipola is eighth in offensive rebounds per game (18.2). The Lady Indians are 24-0 when they have brought in more than 25 defensive rebounds or more than 40 total rebounds.