Second-half troubles lead to weekend road losses for Jets, Lady Jets

An underperformed second-half was the story for both the South Georgia Technical College Jets and Lady Jets in a pair of conference losses over the weekend.

The Jets (11-8, 4-2) traveled to Waycross to face the South Georgia State College Hawks (14-5, 3-2) in their first matchup of the season. The Jets entered halftime up by a score of 34-29, but the Hawks would come back to outscore their opponent by eight points in the second half – edging the Jets by a final score of 65-58.

The Hawks out-shot the Jets, hitting 11 of their three-point shots to the Jet’s four and also out-handled the Jets, turning the ball over 17 times as opposed to the Jets’ 27 turnovers.

Despite the outcome of the game, Jets sophomore Dawan Bass, a guard from Baltimore, MD, was the leading performer in the game. He scored 18 points on offense, had one assist, two steals and came away with seven rebounds. Another sophomore, forward Marquel Wiggins from Oglethorpe, scored 13 points for the Jets, had seven rebounds, one steal and one blocked shot.

Other scorers for the team included: Rico Simmons, eight points; Devante Foster, seven points; Mike Boone, five points and five assists; Emeshuan Offord, three points; Malik Wilson, two points; and Durand Green and Sam Matice with one point apiece.

With the loss, the Jets fell to the number two spot in the Georgia Collegiate Athletic Association (GCAA) conference ranking behind Georgia Highlands. The Jets will face South Georgia State again on February 21 when the Hawks visit the Hangar for their final matchup of the season.

The Lady Jets’ weekend-game story isn’t much different.

The team traveled to Macon to take on the Central Georgia Technical College Lady Titans (13-7, 7-3) for their second meeting of the season, and left with their first conference loss.

The Lady Jets (18-5, 10-1) started the game off in dominating fashion – leading by a score of 47-29 at the end of the first half. But a lack of productive shots in second half allowed the Lady Titans to outscore the Lady Jets by 21 points, which led to a close 74-71 loss for the No. 14 nationally ranked Lady Jets.

Similar to the Jets, the Lady Jets’ demise seemed to come from missed opportunities at the 3-point line and by allowing too many turnovers. The ball only found its way into the hoop two of the 17 times the Lady Jets made a 3-point shot, good enough for just 11.8 percent on the day compared to the Lady Titans’ more efficient 7-for-20 (35 percent). The Lady Jets also set themselves up for trouble by allowing 33 turnovers – a stat that was also higher than the Lady Titans’ 26 turnovers.

Additionally, the Lady Jets only shot 24 free-throws compared to an astounding 43 attempts by the Lady Titans. SGTC made 17 of their 24, while the Lady Titans made just 23 of their 43.

Four Lady Jets scored in the double-digits during the road-trip: Sophomore power forward Esther Adenike scored 17 points, had three assists, two steals, two blocks and 13 total rebounds; sophomore center Sceret Ethridge scored 13 points, had one block and eight rebounds; sophomore small forward Houlfat Mahouchia also scored 13 points, had one steal, one block and 10 rebounds; and freshman small forward Ricka Jackson scored 10 points, had two assists, one steal and five rebounds.

Dakata Toney came away with nine points, Aubrey Maulden scored three points, and Cedeja James, Alyssa Nieves and Fatou Pouye all scored two points each to round out the scoring.

On the day, the Lady Jets made 26-of-68 shots from the field, which was better than the Lady Titans’ 22-of-61 field goals made.

The Lady Jets will seek revenge when they travel to Macon again on Feb. 3 to face the Lady Titans for their final head-to-head matchup of the season.

The Jets and Lady Jets return home to play in the Hangar on Wed, Jan. 24 when the Albany Technical College Titans and Lady Titans come to town for a mid-week double header. The Lady Jets and Lady Titans will begin the night at 5:30 p.m. and the Jets and Titans will follow at 7:30. Both games will be broadcast live by Jock Jive Sports on jockjive.com.