Lady Jets fall to defending national champion Hutchinson Blue Dragons, 61 – 58 in NJCAA National Tournament
Casper, Wyoming – The South Georgia Technical College Lady Jets dropped a hard-fought 61-58 decision to the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) 2024 defending national champions in the first round of the NJCAA Division 1 women’s basketball tournament in Casper, Wyoming.
The Lady Jets were down 13-points (57-44) with 4:35 remaining in the game. Strong defense combined with a pressure press allowed the Lady Jets to hold the Hutchinson Blue Devils to only four points while scoring 14 points to close the deficit to three points before the final buzzer.
SGTC head coach Jason Carpenter and Assistant Coach Olivia Melvin are talking with their team during a time out session.
“First of all, congratulations to Hutchinson,” said SGTC Athletic Director and Lady Jets head coach Jason Carpenter who was making his first appearance in the NJCAA Division I women’s national tournament as a head coach in the Georgia Collegiate Athletic Association (GCAA). “They are the number eight team in the country and the 11th overall seed in the tournament for a reason and they played like it.”
But Carpenter also had praise for his Lady Jets who refused to quit even after getting down. “I am extremely proud of this group overall. And I’m confident our freshman class will use this past season’s lessons and this national tournament experience as fuel going into next season.
“Tonight, was a disappointing way to end an otherwise impressive season on many fronts,” continued Carpenter. “We knew coming in rebounding would be a deciding factor in the game and it absolutely was. Unfortunately for us, Hutchinson won that battle and the game as a result.”
The Hutchinson Blue Devils pulled down 36 rebounds on the night and South Georgia Tech was only able to secure 22. And Hutchinson was able to score 14 second chance points off of those rebounds while SGTC only came up with six.
Other than that, the two teams appeared to be equally matched on the court. The Blue Devils had 16 turnovers and the Lady Jets had 17. Hutchinson made 21 points off of turnovers while SGTC was only able to convert 17.
They both shot around 40% from the field and the three-point line. Hutchinson did have more opportunities from the foul line and that could have been one of the deciding factors. Hutchinson was 13 – 21 from the free throw line while SGTC was 10 of 17.
South Georgia Technical College scored first in the national tournament and was three of three from the three-point line in the first three minutes. The Lady Jets went up by as many as eight points in the first quarter and were still up 17 – 13 at the end of the first 10-minutes of play.
The two teams battled for the lead in the second quarter and once again, SGTC was able to pull ahead at the end of the half with a 29 – 24 advantage. Hutchinson overcame that five-point deficit in the third quarter to tie the game at 41 – 41.
The Blue Devils outscored the Lady Jets, 20 – 17 in the final period to take the victory and advance to the Sweet Sixteen Round. They will now face the sixth-ranked Three Rivers squad on Friday, March 29 at 6:45 eastern time.
The Lady Jets were able to hold the Kansas Player of the Year scoreless during the first half. But in the second half, Hailey Jackson came alive and tossed in 17 points. Six of those were from the foul line. Jada Pleasant was the only other Blue Devil in double digits and she had 10.
The GCAA Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year, Jamiah Gregory led the Lady Jets in scoring with 16 points. She was followed by freshman Stephie Salumu who added 15 points. Sophomores Enola Papin and Mio Sakano also were in double-digits with 13 and 10 points.
Freshman Mariia Ignachenko and Kaiya Carter were the only other Lady Jets to score and they had two points each.
The Lady Jets finished the season with a 24 – 7 record. They captured the GCAA regular season title with a 14 – 1 conference record and were the GCAA-NJCAA Region XVII Champions which allowed them to advance to the NJCAA National Tournament.
This was the 11th time in 20-years that the Lady Jets have advanced to the NJCAA National Tournament. They have finished in the Elite Eight twice and twice in the Sweet Sixteen.