South Georgia Technical College Lady Jets move to 16th in final national poll

The Georgia Collegiate Athletic Association’s 2017 regular season champion South Georgia Technical College Lady Jets moved up to 16th place in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division I women’s basketball final Top 25 poll released February 28th. South Georgia Tech was in the 20th place spot last week and is still the only Georgia women’s team included in the NJCAA Division I national rankings. This is their highest ranking this season nationally.
The Lady Jets were 13 – 1 in the GCAA and 25 – 4 overall at the time of the ranking. They defeated Albany Tech in the first round of the NJCAA Region XVII tournament to advance to the final four in an attempt to reach the NJCAA Division I Women’s National tournament for the third time in four years.
“We are obviously appreciative of the number 16 ranking,” said South Georgia Technical College Athletic Director and Lady Jets head coach James Frey. “I think it is a testament to our athletes’ work ethic, not just this year, but in years past. I think we have attained a pretty good level of respectability nationwide because of our consistency year in and year out. Our young ladies also understand we have a lot of work to do to improve. While appreciative of the ranking, we will not become complacent and let up. We have to finish the drill now.”
The Lady Jets will have to win the NJCAA Region XVII tournament and then win a District J tournament play-in game in order to earn a spot in the NJCAA Division I women’s national tournament in Lubbock, Texas at the Rip Griffin Center, March 20th – 25th this season. The District J play-in game will be held by the Region XVII champion on March 11th and will feature the winner of Region 10 which is North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and Southwest Virginia teams. Eight at-large bids will be extended to teams who are ranked nationally but don’t win their District tournament.
“We are still facing challenges with injuries, but we are just going to have to have some younger players step up and fill those gaps if we plan to reach the goals we set at the beginning of the season.”
Odessa, Texas is ranked number one in the NJCAA Division I women’s rankings with a 24 – 0 record. Hutchinson Kansas, is in second place with a 28 – 1 record, followed by Gulf Coast State, FL, in third at 27 – 2, Seward County , KS in fourth at 28 – 1, and Chipola, FL in fifth at 25 – 3.
South Plains, TX; Salt Lake, UT; Shelton State, AL; Tallahassee, FL, and Northeastern Oklahoma, A&M round out the sixth through 10th place spots respectively.
In addition to the Lady Jet’s 16th place overall ranking in the women’s NJCAA Division I basketball poll, the Lady Jets also had several individual players spotlighted. Camille Coleman, Desiree Corbin, Esther Adenike, and Kanna Suzuki are all among the top players in the nation in individual categories.
Sophomore forward Desiree Corbin remained in the 12th place position in the nation in rebounds per game with an average of 11.1. She has played in 27 games this season. The top ranked rebounder in the nation is averaging 14.9. Corbin is currently out with a hair-line fracture to her knee but is hoping to be able to return to the court after a week or two of rehab and rest.
She is also ranked 13th in total rebounds this season with 299, 9th in this week’s poll in defensive rebounding with an average of 7.3 per game and 44th in offensive rebounding with a 3.7 average per game.
Corbin was also ranked 23rd nationally in field goal percentage shooting. She is making 56.3% of her attempts this season. The sophomore from Griffin, GA, also earned a 10th place spot in the nation in blocks per game. She is averaging 2.7. The national leader is averaging 3.5 blocks per game.
Camille Coleman, a sophomore guard from South Bend, Indiana, is out for the rest of the season with a torn ACL but she was still ranked 7th this week in three point field goal percentage shooting. She hit 45.6% of her shots from the three-point line. She played in 26 games this season and was averaging 10.6 points per game.
Freshman guard Kanna Suzuki is also included in the three point field goal percentage shooting category this week. She is ranked 45th with a 39.2% success rate. She has played in 27 games and is averaging 9.4 points per game. She is also at 27th in the nation in assists with an average of 4.8 per game.
SGTC freshman forward Esther Adenike was the other SGTC player listed in this week’s rankings. She is 14th in the nation in total rebounds with 293 rebounds in 30 games. She is also ranked 32nd nationally in rebounding with a 9.8 average. She is 28th in offensive rebounds with an average of 4.1 per game.
The Lady Jets have advanced to the NJCAA Region XVII tournament Final Four round. They will host Chattahoochee Tech at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, March 3rd. The second ranked Georgia Highlands team will face off against the third ranked East Georgia State squad in the other semi-final game at 5:30 p.m. in the SGTC gym on Friday, March 3rd. The two winners will advance to the finals for the opportunity to capture the NJCAA Region XVII tournament title and the opportunity to advance to the NJCAA District J tournament on March 11th. The winner of that game advances to the national tournament.