Lady Indians defeat Miami Dade, 74-70, to advance to semifinals

MARIANNA, Fla. – The second-seeded Lady Indians struggled to shake the pesky #7 seed Miami Dade in the first game of the FCSAA/Region VIII Tournament on Wednesday afternoon at Raider Arena on the campus of Northwest Florida State. Fortunately for Chipola Nation, the Sharks had a tougher time holding the lead once they had it.

Chipola broke a 58-58 tie by scoring 12 unanswered points as the Sharks went scoreless almost four minutes midway through the fourth quarter. The Lady Indians almost squandered their advantage late in the final minutes after Daniya McDonald gave them their largest lead at 14 with 3:40 left in the game. Miami Dade would close the game out on a 10-0 run but fell short to the Lady Indians, 74-70.

Slow Start

Wednesday's opening round game was the first for both teams in nine days and it certainly showed in the first quarter. Combined, the two teams missed 39 shots and connected on 8. Although the teams collectively gathered in 40 rebounds, only four points were scored in the first ten minutes on second chance field goals.

The spark in the first quarter came from Aniyah Ruddock who came off the bench to score 5 of her game-total 10 points. Trailing 11-7, she made Chipola's only three-pointer of the first quarter and followed that with a layup with one minute remaining to give Chipola a one-point lead at the horn.

Both teams began to relax as the second period opened up and the shooting percentages began to climb.

At the start of the second quarter, Chipola completed a 10-0 run the same way it began - a made three-pointer from Aniyah Ruddock. The Lady Indians went on to take their biggest lead of the first-half, ten points, after Kanija Daniel and Ahmani Klabunde hit consecutive threes and a layup from Alindria Dudley.

Leading 26-16 with six minutes left before the half, it appeared that the Lady Indians had hit their stride but the Sharks weren't going away.

With 1:42 remaining, a Miami Dade layup cut Chipola's lead to 34-27. Turnovers and missed free throws stifled the Lady Indians' attack and the Sharks smelled blood in the water. Mekhila Brown's two made free throws were the only points scored by Chipola in the final two minutes of the first half.

Miami Dade added a pair of layups then a putback by Shameir Quimby, who finished the game with 23 points for the Sharks, as time expired, left Chipola's lead down to three at 36-33.

Survive and Advance

After finishing the first half on a 6-2 run, Miami Dade started the second half on an 10-3 run to take a 43-39 lead after two-and-a-half minutes of play.

Still down four with just over four minutes remaining in the third, Kanija Daniel hit a three to close the score to 47-46 and on the next trip down the court Aniyah Ruddock gave the Lady Indians the lead with a layup.

Chipola's presence around the goal showed up as the rebounding duo of Mekhila Brown and Serena Heeren began to take control. With less than two minutes remaining in the third, Brown hit a layup to push Chipola back out to a five-point lead, 54-49.

Again, the Sharks closed out the quarter strong by scoring the last four points and sending the game to the final period with the Lady Indians clinging to a 54-53 lead.

Back-to- back layups from Brown and Arielle Facyson once again pushed Chipola's lead back out to five to start the fourth quarter. Yet again, the Sharks came right back with a long range three and a short jumper to tie the score with 8:26 left in the game.

Going into the fourth quarter, Chipola's bench had outscored the Sharks, 25-0. All year, Chipola's depth has created problems for their opponents. For almost four minutes in the middle of the final period, that depth finally got to Miami Dade.

The Lady Indians rattled off 12 consecutive points to take a 70-58 lead before the Sharks finally stopped the run on a layup with 4:39 remaining in the game. Chipola answered right back with four more unanswered points to hold their largest lead of the game, 74-60, with 3:40 left on the clock.

As they had done in the second and third quarters, the Lady Indians did not finish well in the waning minutes. Miami Dade scored the final 10 points of the game but Chipola escaped with the win and moved on to Friday's semifinals.

Up Next

#2 Chipola will take on #3 Florida SouthWestern in Friday's first semifinal game with the winner advancing to Saturday's Championship Game. Tip between the Lady Indians and Bucs is at 1 PM from Raider Arena.

The Bucs (24-4) advanced to the semifinals by dominating #6 Pensacola State, 64-42. Three players scored in double digits for the Bucs. Sarah Owona led all scorers in the game with 17 points. She was followed by Samantha Serrano and Georgi Buzzeti who each had 16 points.

Florida SouthWestern averages 70.6 points per game while holding their opponents to 58.5 points. The Bucs are shooting 42.2 percent from the floor and 32.2 percent from behind the arc.

The Bucs only four losses were to #15 Trinity Valley, 72-67, on opening night of the 2024-25 season, a pair of losses to #2 Northwest Florida by a combined nine points, and their only conference loss to Miami Dade, 77-51.

Florida SouthWestern won the Citrus Conference this season with a 17-1 record under new head coach, Jamie Fisher. Friday's semifinal against Chipola, led by their new head coach, Mitch Rolls, will mean a coach in his first season at his school will play for the championship

Other Action

On the other side of bracket, two teams with coaches who have been at their school several years will vie for a championship berth.

Bart Walker, in his tenth season at Northwest Florida, and the #1 seed Raiders took out #8 Hillsborough, 72-57. The Raiders will meet Eastern Florida State College for the third consecutive year in the tournament.

The Titans are coached by MJ Baker in her eighth season in Melbourne. #5 EFSC scored 30 points in the fourth to overcome a three-point deficit after three quarters of play to eliminate #4 Gulf Coast, 80-75.

In 2023, Eastern Florida ended the Panhandle Conference's stronghold on the State Championship by taking down the Raiders, 48-43, to win the title.

The Raiders got revenge in the 2024 semifinals with a 65-38 win enroute to winning the FCSAA/Region VIII Championship.