Lady Jets Jamiah Gregory named GCAA Player of Year
South Georgia Technical College Lady Jets freshman Jamiah Gregory was selected as the Georgia Collegiate Athletic Association (GCAA) 2025 Player of the Year and the Freshman of the Year in the Division 1 women’s basketball conference.
She also earned GCAA All-Region first team honors and was joined by three of her teammates as first team All-Region players. Sophomores Mio Sakano and Enola Papin and freshman Stephie Salumu were the other Lady Jets honored. Salumu was also named Co-Defensive Player of the Year with Tahjae Hawes of East Georgia State College. Janiya Johnson from Albany Tech was the only other player from the GCAA to earn first team honors. Kenny Williams of Albany Tech was the GCAA Coach of the Year for the women.
“I am very proud of these young ladies and our team,” said SGTC Athletic Director and Lady Jets head coach Jason Carpenter. “Having four players selected to First Team All-Conference as well as the GCAA Player of the Year, speaks to the unselfish nature of them all and the team first culture we have established here. Our focus since last April for our three returning sophomores and since the start of the fall semester for our freshmen has been to get better daily. This recognition is a result of that commitment to that mentality.”
Five other players received honorable mention status on the GCAA All-Conference team. Those players included East Georgia’s Charlese McClendon and Tahjae Hawes, Central Georgia Tech’s Tanyia Williams, Carliss Johnson from Albany Tech and Braniya Baker from Andrew College.
SGTC’s GCAA Player of the Year, Jamiah Gregory, a 5’ 10” guard from Marietta, GA, is currently leading the conference in points per game with an average of 15.8. She helped lead the Lady Jets to the first-place finish in the GCAA regular season with a 14 – 1 record. She has scored a total of 458 points this season, which is the highest point production for the Lady Jets. She is also ranked fourth in the league in field goal percentage shooting.
In addition to leading the team in total number of points scored, Gregory amassed a total of 189 rebounds, 59 assists, 79 steals and 11 blocked shots. She has started all 29 of the Lady Jets games this season is a 45.7 field goal percentage shooter. She has hit 21.6% of her three-point attempts and 62.9% of her free throws.
Joining Gregory on the GCAA All-Conference first team were her teammates: Mio Sakano, Enola Papin and Stephie Salumu. Sakano has signed to play NCAA Division 1 basketball at the University of Miami-Ohio. Papin has accepted a scholarship to continue her career at NCAA Division I, University of Maryland-Eastern Shore.
Sakano, a 5’ 9” point guard from Yamanashi, Japan, is the second leading scorer for the Lady Jets with 426 points this season. She has also started all 29 regular season games for the Lady Jets. She has made 43.2 percent of her shots from the field and 31.2 percent of her three-point attempts. She is a 77.1 percent free throw shooter. She has 152 rebounds this season along with 122 assists, 63 steals and one blocked shot.
Enola Papin, a 5’ 9” sophomore guard from Saint Eienne, France, has accounted for 362 points this season. She has made 36.6% of her shots from the field and hit 35% of her three-point attempts. She has made 82% of her free throws. In addition to scoring, Papin also accounted for 167 rebounds, 59 assists, 49 steals and two blocked shots.
The final member of the Lady Jets squad to make first team All-Conference is freshman Stephie Salumu. The 6’ freshman guard from Sint-Niklaas, Belgium has scored 329 points this season for the Lady Jets. She made 59.2% of her free throws, 27.8 percent of her three-point attempts and hit 56.4 of her attempts from the field.
Salumu is the leading rebounder for the Lady Jets with 294. She also has 82 assists, 70 steals and 27 blocked shots. Salumu leads the league in field goal percentage shooting and is the second rebounder in the league.
The Lady Jets will be hosting the GCAA – NJCAA Region XVII end of the season tournament beginning Thursday at 6 p.m. They will face Andrew College at 6 p.m. in the Hangar in the first semi-final contest and then East Georgia and Albany Tech will follow in the second semi-final game at 8 p.m. The winners of these games will meet in the Hangar at 6 p.m., Friday, March 14th for the finals. The winner of the tournament will advance to the NJCAA National Tournament in Casper Wyoming, March 25 – April 1.
The Lady Jets have qualified for the National Tournament 10 times in their 20-year history. Brandon Harrell, the Lady Jets first head coach took the Lady Jets to the national tournament once and then second Lady Jets head coach James Frey’s teams qualified nine times in 11-years.