Lady Jets defeat Eastern Florida State in Lady Jets Holiday Classic
In a battle between two nationally ranked National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) women’s basketball teams, the 16th ranked South Georgia Technical College Lady Jets came away with a 73 – 66 win over the 25th seeded Lady Titans from Florida.
“It was a good win,” said South Georgia Technical College Athletic Director and Lady Jets head coach James Frey. “This was our first game back from the holiday break and it was against a nationally ranked team. So we were glad to get the win, but we know we are going to have to step up our game today and tomorrow to keep winning.” The Lady Jets face Cape Fear in a 6 p.m. game on December 30th and then face Shelton State in another nationally ranked contest at 4 p.m. on December 31st in the Hangar in Americus.
The premiere game of the tournament will be at 4 p.m. today when the number one team in the NJCAA, Gulf Coast State takes on 11th ranked Shelton State. Four nationally ranked NJCAA women’s basketball teams are participating in the Lady Jets Holiday Classic. Gulf Coast is the top team in the country and undefeated at 10 – 0. Shelton State has one loss with a 10 – 1 overall record. South Georgia Tech is currently ranked 16th with a 12 – 1 record and Eastern Florida State was at 25th in the poll with a 11 – 2 record before their loss to South Georgia Tech.
A total of seven women’s basketball teams and six men’s teams traveled to Americus to participate in the five-days of basketball action on the South Georgia Technical College campus during the Jets and the Lady Jets Holiday Classic.
The Lady Jets extended their overall winning streak to 13-straight with the seven-point win over Eastern Florida. There were a total of six lead changes and seven ties in the game against nationally ranked opponents.
The two teams ended the first quarter with 21 points each. A surge in the second quarter allow the Lady Jets to go up 39 – 31 at the half. However, Eastern State came back in the third period and outscored South Georgia Tech 21 – 12 to pull ahead 52 – 50 at the end of the third quarter.
Strong play from sophomore Amara Edeh in the fourth quarter and some good freethrow shooting from Edeh and sophomore Shamari Tyson allowed the Lady Jets to outscore the Lady Titans 22 – 14 in the final period and take the 73 – 66 victory.
Sophomore 5’11 forward Amara Edeh was the leading scorer for the Lady Jets with 15 points. She was six of eight from the field and three of four from the foul line. Sophomores Shamari Tyson and Yasriyyah Wazeerud-Din were close behind Edeh with 11 points each to close out the double-digit scoring. Femme Sikuzani and Flore Ngasamputu both added seven points and Niya Goudelock and Oumy Gueye accounted for six points each. Anna McKendree had a total of four points and then Moe Shida and Hope Butera closed out the scoring with three points each.
Eastern Florida State outscored the Lady Jets 33 to 18 on three point shots and converted more points off turnovers than South Georgia Tech.
The Lady Jets get the opportunity to stretch their win streak to 14 straight against Cape Fear at 6 p.m. today and then rally for a chance to upset 11th seeded Shelton State at 4 p.m. on New Year’s Eve.
After the tournament action, the Lady Jets will host Central Georgia Tech in a conference double-header with the men on Saturday, January 4th. Then they travel to Andrew College on January 8th for a 5:30 p.m. conference match-up. The Jets will follow with a 7:30 game that same night in Cuthbert. Both teams then travel to Rome to face Georgia Highlands on January 11th at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m.