Jets and Lady Jets sweep Southern Crescent in GCAA contests

Griffin, GA – The South Georgia Technical College Jets and Lady Jets took impressive wins over the Southern Crescent Technical College Tigers and Lady Tigers in Georgia Collegiate Athletic Association (GCAA) conference games Wednesday in Griffin. The Lady Jets opened with a 97 – 58 victory and the Jets followed with a 73 – 44 decision.
The win Wednesday allowed the Lady Jets to clinch the GCAA regular season conference title and the right to host the GCAA playoffs on March 13 and 14. The Lady Jets are currently 12 – 1 and still have two more games in the regular season including the Homecoming/Sophomore Day games against Albany Tech on Saturday, February 28th and then a trip to Cuthbert to play Andrew College on Wednesday, March 4th.
The Jets are now in third place in the GCAA with an 8 – 5 record. They are behind Central Georgia Tech (11- 1) and South Georgia State (10 – 3). Gordon and Albany Tech are currently tied for fourth place with identical 7 – 7 records followed by Georgia Highlands and East Georgia tied for sixth with 6 – 7 records. Andrew College (2 – 11) is currently 8th and Southern Crescent (1 – 10) is in ninth place.
Five Lady Jets scored in double-digits in the match-up against Southern Crescent. Sophomore guard Taja Bennet from Dallas, Texas, was the top scorer with 22 points. Freshman guard Ja’Niya Broome followed with 20 points. Sophomore guard Jaidyn Elam tossed in 19 points and pulled down 13 rebounds for a double-double night.
Freshman point guard Candice Ganga came away with 15 points and seven assists and then freshman guard Sarah Mellouk closed out the double-digit scoring with 14 points. Sephora Benth walked away with four points and 10 rebounds and Jada Jones closed out the scoring with three points.
Following that impressive win, the Jets took a 73 – 44 decision over the Tigers. The Jets led 35 – 17 at the end of the first half and then came back and outscored Southern Crescent 38 – 27 in the last 20-minutes to capture the victory.
Sophomore guard Jalexs Ewing from Augusta, led the Jets in scoring with 18 points. Jarius Davis, a freshman from Greensboro, NC was the only other Jet in double-digits and he had 10 points.
Sophomore Center Matt Mboble came away with nine points and led the team in rebounds with 12. Guillaume Schoentgen and Marcellus Myles both added seven points, Frankie Raines tossed in six points, Clark Mastin and Marc Ferdy each accounted for five points and then Noa Istrefi and Dwight Brown closed out the scoring with four and two points respectively.
The Jets have three games remaining before the NJCAA Region XVII tournament. They are currently in third place with a two-game lead over the two teams tied for fourth place. They need to finish fourth or higher in the regular season to host a Quarter-Final NJCAA Regional XVII game on March 10. They will face Albany Tech (tied for 4th place at 7 – 7) on Saturday for the Homecoming game and then travel to Georgia Highlands in Rome and Gordon State College in Barnesville (tied for fourth with 7 – 7 record) to close out the regular season.
Jets fans are invited to come out Saturday, February 28th for the Homecoming, Alumni, and Sophomore Day celebration in the James S. Peters gymnasium. The Americus – Sumter Chamber of Commerce will be grilling hamburgers and hotdogs for a lunch tailgate event around 12:15 and then the Lady Jets will host the Albany Tech Lady Titans at 1 p.m. with the Jets facing the Albany Tech Titans at 3 p.m. The Jets and Lady Jets sophomores will be recognized in-between the two games. Free t-shirts, giveaways and door prizes will be available while supplies last.