Chipola takes rubber game with Tallahassee

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (February 8, 2020) – Chipola College's women's basketball team picked up a 58-49 victory over Tallahassee Community College on Saturday evening in the rubber game of the teams' three-game season series. 

Tallahassee fell to 12-11 (3-6 Panhandle Conference) with the loss while Chipola (21-4, 6-3) maintained a share of first place in the league standings with the win. 

A 12-0 run by Chipola to start the third quarter proved to be the difference. That gave the Indians a 30-15 lead and they led 41-29 heading to the fourth. 

Chipola's lead reached 23 (56-33) as the clock ticked under three minutes when Tallahassee began to mount a furious comeback. 

Fourteen unanswered points brought the Eagles within nine, 56-47, with 48 seconds remaining. After a pair of Chipola free throws, Ana Nikulochkina drove coast to coast for a layup to cut the deficit back to nine, and the Eagles forced a turnover, but she missed a pair of three-point attempts on the ensuing possession and the Indians were able to run out the clock. 

Nikulochkina finished with 19 points for Tallahassee. Rita James came off the bench to score 12. 

Both teams struggled for the entirety of the first half. Chipola led just 9-6 after one quarter and 18-15 at the intermission. 

After shooting 22.6 percent (7-of-31) in the first half, Chipola connected on 9-of-15 shots overall and 6-of-9 threes in the third quarter. 

Tallahassee will have the mid-week bye before traveling to Northwest Florida State College next Saturday for a 6:30 p.m. tip with the Raiders.