Lady Jets drop out of top 25 NJCAA Division I standings

The South Georgia Technical College Lady Jets fell from the top 25 in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division I women’s basketball rankings this week but are still listed as one of the five colleges receiving votes for the national poll. This is the first time the Lady Jets have dropped out of the national rankings this year.
The Lady Jets dropped back to back road losses in a three-day span to Wallace State-Hanceville in Alabama and then to Georgia Collegiate Athletic Association (GCAA) foe Central Georgia Technical College in Macon. The Lady Jets lost 56 – 48 to Wallace State and 74 – 71 to Central Georgia Tech.
Shelton State remained in the top spot in the NJCAA January 23rd, 2018 poll. They were followed by New Mexico, Northwest Florida State, Gulf Coast State, Jones County, Tallahassee, Moberly Area, Trinity Valley, Wabash Valley and Salt Lake for the top 10 positions. Three new teams broke into the poll in the 23rd, 24th, and 25th spots and they were Southern Idaho, North Dakota and Walters State. South Georgia Tech (14), San Jacinto-North (21), and Eastern Florida State (25) were the three colleges that fell from the ranking.
Despite dropping from the 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 currently the third best rebounder in the nation with a total of 256 this season. She dropped down one spot from second place. The top rebounder in the nation has 293. Adenike also remained in 9th place in rebounds per game with an average of 11.1 per game. The leader averages 14.1 per game. Adenike is 18th in defensive rebounds with an average of 6.6 and 12th in offensive rebounds per game with an average of 4.6. She moved up four spots in offensive rebounding stats and up one spot in defensive rebounding rankings. She is also listed as 24th in the nation field goal percentage shooting with a 54.3 percent success rate. She makes 4.7 of every 8.6 shots she shoots.
Her teammate, Houlfat Mahouchiza, is currently ranked 21st in total rebounds this season with 186, and 26th in the nation in blocked shots per game. She is averaging blocking 1.8 shots each outing. She is also shooting 82.7% from foul line and is ranked 28th in the nation in that category. She moved up 12 spots in the free throw shooting percentage ranking this week.
The SGTC Jets had only one player included in the NJCAA individual rankings this week. Sophomore Marquel Wiggins of Oglethorpe, GA, returned for the fifth consecutive week and Rico Simmons who had been ranked for the past two weeks in total points scored, was dropped from the national rankings.
Wiggins remained in the 5th spot in the nation in offensive rebounds per game. The 6’ 6” forward is averaging 4.6 offensive rebounds per game. He has a total of 188 rebounds this season which put him at 17th in the nation in total number of rebounds. He is ranked 23rd in total rebounds per game with an average of 9.9. He is also listed as 40th in the nation in total points scored this season with 343. He has played and started in all 19 games for the Jets this season.
The South Georgia Tech Jets and Lady Jets will host Albany Tech at 5:30 and 7:30 p.m. tonight in the Hangar. The Jets travel to Barnesville, GA to take on Gordon State College in a conference match-up at 4 p.m. on Saturday, January 27th and then the two teams will host East Georgia State College in a conference double-header on Wednesday, January 31st at 5:30 and 7:30 p.m. The two teams will travel to Macon for a rematch with Central Georgia Tech on Saturday, February 3rd at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. and then both will return home on Wednesday, February 7th in a double-header with Andrew College at 5:30 and 7:30 p.m.