SGTC Lady Jets advance to NJCAA Region XVII finals with win over East Georgia State

The South Georgia Technical College Lady Jets captured a hard-fought 80 – 75 victory over East Georgia State College to advance to the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Region XVII Tournament finals and the opportunity to punch their ticket to the NJCAA National Tournament for the second year in a row.
The Lady Jets moved to 20 – 11 overall with the victory and will now face Central Georgia Technical College in the NJCAA Region XVII finals tonight (Friday, March 13th) at 6 p.m. in the Hangar on the SGTC Americus campus. Central Georgia Tech (10 – 4; 20 – 7) defeated Albany Tech in the other semi-final match-up, 96 – 70, to advance to the finals.
Six players (three from South Georgia Tech and three from East Georgia) fouled out in the 40-minute hard fought battle and four others ended the game with four personal fouls. South Georgia Tech was up by as many as 18-points with 2:22 remaining in the third quarter before East Georgia staged a rally and cut that lead to five points by the final buzzer.
The Lady Jets built up a 36 – 23 lead at the end of the first half, but East Georgia came back and outscored the Lady Jets 30 – 25 in the third quarter and 22 – 19 in the fourth quarter to narrow that lead to 80 – 75 by the final buzzer.
Four Lady Jets ended up in double digits and two also had double-digit rebounds. Sophomore Taja Bennett from Dallas, Texas, led the Lady Jets in scoring with 25 points and 14 rebounds for a double-double night. Freshman guard Ja’Niya Broome from Hamilton, GA, was next with 20 points.
Jaidyn Elam, a sophomore guard from Pontiac, MI, tossed in 16 points and had seven rebounds and then freshman point guard Candice Ganga from Paris, France, added 13 points to close out the double-digit scoring. Sephora Benth added four points and Sarah Mellouk had two points on the night for the Lady Jets.
East Georgia’s Malia Haney and Asunti Porter had 30 and 20 points respectively for the Lady Bobcats but neither team shot the ball well. East Georgia hit 31.3% of their total shots from the field, 20% of their three-point attempts and 68% of their free throws (31 – 45). The Lady Jets were not much better making only 35.1% of their total shots and 22% of their three-point attempts. They also only made 61% (22 – 36) free throws. Either team could have won or widen the gap by making free throws.
Now the Lady Jets advance to the NJCAA Region XVII Tournament finals to face Central Georgia Tech at 6 p.m. in the Hangar. The winner of that game will advance to the NJCAA National Tournament which will be held in Lake Charles, LA at McNeese State on March 24th – 31st.
The SGTC Jets will also be playing tonight in their half of the NJCAA Region XVII tournament. They will match-up against South Georgia State College at 8 p.m. in Macon in the NJCAA Region XVII semi-finals. The winner of this game will advance to the finals on Saturday, March 14th at 4 p.m. in Macon and play the winner of the other semi-final game between Central Georgia Tech and Gordon State College in the 6 p.m. game.
The Lady Jets won the right to attend the national tournament in 2024 – 2025 and traveled to Casper, Wyoming in the second year of play under SGTC Athletic Director and Lady Jets Head Coach Jason Carpenter.