Two SGTC Lady Jets named to 2024 – 2025 NJCAA Division 1 Honorable Mention teams

South Georgia Technical College had two individuals from its nationally recognized 2024 – 2025 Lady Jets women’s basketball team to be selected as National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) All-American Honorable Mentions for their performance on the court for the 2024 – 2025 season. This is only the third time in the program’s 20-year history that two players have been honored in a single season.
Sophomore point guard Mio Sakano from Yamanashi, Japan, and freshman guard Jamiah Gregory from Marietta, Georgia, were the two Lady Jets selected to the NJCAA 2024 – 2025 All-American Honorable Mention squad.
The Lady Jets finished the season ranked 22nd in the NJCAA Division I women’s basketball league with a 27 – 5 overall record. They won the Georgia Collegiate Athletic Association (GCAA) regular season title and the NJCAA Region XVII tournament to advance to the NJCAA National Tournament in Casper, Wyoming. They faced the 11th seeded and defending national champion Hutchinson Community College Blue Dragons from Hutchinson, Kansas, in the first round and lost in the final seconds by three points.
Gregory, a 5’ 10” guard from Marietta led the Lady Jets in scoring this season with a total of 494 points. She started all 32 games for the Lady Jets this season and was a 45.3 percent shooter from the field. She also hit 22.2 percent of her three-point attempts and 62 percent of her free throws. She pulled down 197 rebounds had 64 assists, 89 steals, and 11 blocked shots.
She was one of only 11 freshmen to crack the NJCAA Division 1 women’s basketball All-American teams which featured 50 outstanding two-year female athletes from across the nation.
Mio Sakano, the 5’9” sophomore point guard from Yamnashi, Japan, was the other SGTC Lady Jet highlighted. She was the second leading scorer for the Lady Jets with 473 total points this season. She also started all 32 games for the Lady Jets. She made 41.9 percent of her field goal attempts, 32.1 percent of her three-point attempts and was a 77.1% free throw shooter. She had 165 rebounds, 131 assists, 69 steals, and three blocked shots.
Sakano also started 28 of the Lady Jets 29 games in the 2023 -2024 season and accounted for 400 points as a freshman. She made 51.9 percent of her shots from the field. She was a 73 percent free throw shooter and hit 19.5 percent of her three-point attempts. Sakano had 158 rebounds that season, 101 assists, and 44 steals.
“I am happy for and proud of Mio Sakano and Jamiah Gregory to be recognized by the NJCAA for their play this season,” said SGTC Athletic Director and Lady Jets head coach Jason Carpenter. “I think being an All-American is an honor for them as well as for their teammates who all played a part in this. Recognition like this is as much a team recognition as it is an individual one. Being named All-American by the NJCAA is a big deal.”
This was the Lady Jets first trip to the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division I women’s basketball tournament under SGTC Athletic Director and Lady Jets head coach Jason Carpenter. It was the eleventh time the Lady Jets have made the trip in 20-years. Former head coach James Frey took the team nine times and Brandon Harrell who helped start the program in 2004 took the team once.
This is only the third time that South Georgia Technical College has ever had two players in one season to be recognized as NJCAA All-Americans. The first time was in 2019 – 2020 when Shamari Tyson and Yasriyyah Wazeerud-Din were honored. Tyson was listed as a second team All-American and Yasriyyah Wazeerud-Din was an Honorable Mention All-American. Both of those individuals were also highlighted as members of the World Exposure NJCAA Divison I American teams as well. Tyson was a third-team All-American in that poll and Wazeerud-Din was an Honorable Mention. The Lady Jets set a record for both the men’s and women’s team that season with a 30 – 2 overall performance as well as a Sweet Sixteen finish in the NJCAA Women’s Division I national tournament.
The second time was in 2021 – 2022 when freshman shooting forward Alexia Dizeko from Switzerland and freshman center Fanta Gassama from Spain were recognized. Dizeko was listed as a Second-Team All-American and Gassama was an Honorable Mention All-American. The Lady Jets finished as one of the top sixteen teams in the nation that season with a 27 – 7 record.
“I am very proud of this year’s team. We came into the season with only three returning players and ten freshmen,” said Coach Carpenter. “I thought we had a chance to do better at the national tournament, but right now is when champions are made so we are going to get started preparing for next season.”