Lady Jets still receiving votes to be included in NJCAA Top 25

February 14, 2018
Four South Georgia Technical College Lady Jets and Jets were included in NJCAA individual rankings recently. Esther Adenike (24), Houlfat Mahouchiza (5) Marquel Wiggins (34) and Rico Simmons (1) were recognized for their talents on the court.
Four South Georgia Technical College Lady Jets and Jets were included in NJCAA individual rankings recently. Esther Adenike (24), Houlfat Mahouchiza (5) Marquel Wiggins (34) and Rico Simmons (1) were recognized for their talents on the court.

The South Georgia Technical College Lady Jets are still receiving votes as one of the top National Junior College Athletic Association Division I women’s basketball teams but they were a few votes shy of breaking back into the top 25 rankings this week. There are six teams ranked with five or more losses. The Lady Jets have won five consecutive conference decisions and are currently 23 – 5 overall and 15 – 1 in the Georgia Collegiate Athletic Association
Shelton State remained in the top spot in the NJCAA February 13th, 2018 poll. They were followed by Gulf Coast, Northwest Florida, New Mexico and Moberly Area. Seward County, Jones County, Cochise, Trinity Valley and Tallahassee Community College rounded out the top 10 in order. Tallahassee is the only top 10 team with five losses.
Despite not cracking the top 25 team rankings nationally, two of the Lady Jets were still included in the national individual rankings. They are sophomore Esther Adenike, 6’ 2” forward from Nigeria, and Houlfat Mahouchiza, a 6’ 1” forward from France.
Adenike is the third best rebounder in the nation with a total of 318 this season. The top rebounder in the nation has 388. She is also in 8th place in rebounds per game with an average of 11.4 per game. Adenike is 22nd in defensive rebounds with an average of 6.5 and 8th in offensive rebounds per game with an average of 4.8. She is also listed as 31st in the nation in field goal percentage shooting as well as 44th in blocked shots per game with a 1.7 average.
Her teammate, Houlfat Mahouchiza, is currently ranked 22nd in total rebounds this season with 233, and 30th in the nation in blocked shots per game. She is averaging blocking 1.9 shots each outing. She is also shooting 83.8% from foul line and is ranked 18th in the nation in that category. She moved up 10 spots in the free throw shooting percentage ranking this week.
The SGTC Jets also had two players included in the NJCAA individual rankings this week. Sophomore Marquel Wiggins of Oglethorpe, GA, returned for the sixth consecutive week and Rico Simmons, a sophomore guard has been included four weeks.
Wiggins is currently 7th in the nation in offensive rebounds per game. The 6’ 6” forward is averaging 4.3 offensive rebounds per game. He has a total of 234 rebounds this season which put him at 24th in the nation in total number of rebounds. He is ranked 36th in total rebounds per game with an average of 9.4.
Simmons is currently listed as 32nd in the nation in free throw percentage shooting with an 84.4 success rate per game and 43rd in steals with an average of 2.2 per game over 25 games. He has scored 425 points in 25 games this season.
The South Georgia Tech Jets and Lady Jets will host Atlanta Metro at 5:30 and 7:30 p.m. tonight in the Hangar. The Lady Jets have clinched the GCAA Regular Season conference title and the Jets are currently in third place behind Georgia Highlands and South Georgia State with an 8 – 4 and 15 – 10 record. Central Georgia Tech and Albany Tech are tied for fourth place with 6 – 5 conference records. Atlanta Metro is currently ninth at 1 – 9 but is only one game away from tying Gordon for 8th place.
The next game for South Georgia Tech will be on Wednesday, February 21st at 7 p.m. when the Jets take on second place South Georgia State. Both the Jets and Lady Jets will travel to Albany on February 24th to face Albany Tech at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. in a double-header. That will wind up the regular season for the Lady Jets but the Jets will host Gordon State College on Wednesday, Feb. 28th at 7 p.m.
The Lady Jets will host the NJCAA Region XVII tournament on Friday, March 2nd and Saturday, March 3rd as the top team in the state. The other top six teams will face off on February 27th to determine the seeding for the semi-final round at SGTC.