Lady Jets advance to NJCAA Region XVII finals with win over Atlanta Metro
Sophomore Cierra Bond had 21 points in the Lady Jets 100 – 62 win over Atlanta Metro in the semi-final round of playoffs
The top-ranked South Georgia Technical College Lady Jets rolled to a 100 – 62 win over the fourth seeded Atlanta Metro College Lady Trailblazers Friday night to advance to the NJCAA Region XVII finals for the third time in three years.
South Georgia Tech’s impressive win combined with Georgia Highlands 75 – 59 defeat of the third-seeded Darton College Lady Cavaliers set up a final between current Lady Jets head coach James Frey and the former Lady Jets head coach Brandon Harrell. The winner will take the NJCAA Region XVII title and the opportunity to advance to the District J championship and possibly a trip to the NJCAA Division I national tournament.
“This was a big win for us,” said South Georgia Technical College Lady Jets head coach James Frey. “We really turned it up in the second half and that made the difference, but today is a new day and Georgia Highlands has a very good team.”
South Georgia Tech and Georgia Highlands split during the regular season and both had identical 14 – 2 conference records but the Lady Jets captured the GCAA regular season title and earned the right to host the NJCAA Region XVII tournament.
Harrell started the Lady Jets basketball program and led the team for eight years before leaving to start the program at Georgia Highlands. James Frey took the reigns of the program in 2012 and since that time has lead the Lady Jets to two GCAA titles, two NJCAA Region XVII championships, two District J titles and two trips to the NJCAA national tournament. He amassed over 100 wins in less that four complete seasons and is hoping to lead his team to their third straight national tournament appearance.
“This is what we have worked for all season long,” said Coach Frey. “Now we have to execute to realize the goals that we set for ourselves at the start of the season.”
The Lady Jets advanced to the finals after they jumped out to a 27 – 20 lead over the Lady Trailblazers in the first quarter and despite a rocky second quarter held on to capture an impressive win. The fourth seeded Atlanta team closed the gap to within one point, 42 – 41 at the end of the first half.
The Lady Jets outscored Atlanta Metro 58 – 21 in the second half behind the strong play of sophomore guard Brittney Delva and freshman La’Deja James. Sophomore Cierra Bond was the top scorer for the Lady Jets with 21 points, 17 of which came in the first half to keep the Lady Jets ahead at the half.
However Brittney Delva scored 17 points, had eight assists, four steals and four rebounds. Twelve of her points came in the second half. Freshman guard La’Deja James was also in double figures with 12 points, all of which came at crucial times in the second half. Sophomore forward Angela Tompkins had a big game with 11 points and 13 rebounds and freshman Mikaela Jones closed out the double digit scoring with 10 points.
Every member of the Lady Jets scored in that victory. Sophomore Molly Brown had nine points, freshman Brook Burns scored seven points, Kendra Green added six points, Claudia Perez contributed five points and then Kayla Mallett closed out the scoring with two points.
Atlanta Metro had three players in double figures. Tamia Tillman led with 18 points, Ta’Asia Wright added 15 points and Kemoni Jenkins had 11 points.
In the Georgia Highlands – Darton College semi-final game, Kayla Carter was the go-to-player for the Lady Chargers. She had 26 points for Georgia Highlands. De’Ashia Jones was the only other Georgia Highlands player in double-digits with 13 points. Darton College’s Hilary Williams was their leading scorer with 16 points.
Georgia Highlands jumped out to a 28 – 13 lead at the end of the first quarter and were up 48 – 25 at the half. Darton came back in the third quarter and cut the lead to 61 – 48 but it was too little too late and Georgia Highlands captured the 75 – 59 win to advance to the finals on Saturday.