NICEVILLE, Fla. - Chipola College won the FCSAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship on Saturday, defeating host and top-seed Northwest Florida State College, 58-41.
The win gave No. 2 seed Chipola the automatic bid to the NJCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship in Casper, Wyoming, while the Raiders will wait for a probable at-large bid when the 24-team bracket is announced Sunday evening.
Northwest Florida State scored the first point of the game on a free throw 40 seconds in, but didn't find the basket again until Mekhia Chase's bucket with 46 seconds remaining in the first quarter. Chipola, meanwhile, jumped out to a 13-1 advantage, led 14-3 after one and led the rest of the way.
The first ten minutes proved to set the tone for the game - Chipola limited Northwest Florida State to just 25.0 percent shooting for the game (14-of-56).
The Raiders momentarily cut the deficit to five with 6:47 left in the first half but ended up going scoreless the final 4:18 of the quarter, enabling the Indians to extend their lead to 28-14 at the intermission.
Chipola led by as many as 23 in the second half.
Tournament Most Outstanding Player Kanija Daniel led Chipola with 22 points - she hit 11-of-12 free throws.
Daniya McDonald, who joined Daniel on the All-Tournament Team, finished with 11 points and 11 rebounds. Mekhila Brown also represented Chipola on the All-Tournament Team.
Northwest Florida State had three players as well - Mekhia Chase, Deborah Davenport and Kyla McBride. Davenport had 21 points and 21 rebounds in the quarterfinal win vs. Hillsborough.
Chase had 10 points and nine rebounds on Saturday.
Other members of the All-Tournament Team were: Ivy Brown and Georgi Buzzetti of Florida SouthWestern State College, Karen Nimo and Jalei O'Neal of Eastern Florida State College, Arianny Francisco De Olviera of Gulf Coast State College and Shameir Quimby of Miami Dade College.
Chipola's Mitch Rolls received the Roonie Scovel Award, recognizing the FCSAA Division I Women's Basketball Coach of the Year.