SGTC Lady Jets to face East Georgia State in NJCAA Region XVII tournament Championship game
The top-ranked South Georgia Technical College Lady Jets captured their 12th consecutive win to advance to the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Region XVII Tournament Championship game. They will face East Georgia State College tonight (Friday, March 14, 2025) at 6 p.m. in the Hangar on the SGTC Americus campus.
The Lady Jets defeated Andrew College, 96 – 50 in the first semi-final game Thursday and then third-ranked East Georgia State College upset the second-ranked Albany Technical College Lady Titans 71 – 57 in the other semi-final contest to advance to the championship round. The winner of the game tonight will advance to the NJCAA Division I Women’s basketball National Tournament in Casper, Wyoming, March 25 – April 1.
“I am happy with our performance against Andrew,” said SGTC Athletic Director and Lady Jets head coach Jason Carpenter. “Regardless of who won the second game, we knew we would see a tough opponent. Tonight’s game will be a great match-up just as all of our contests against East Georgia State have been this season.”
The SGTC Lady Jets are currently 16 – 1 against conference opponents and 25 – 6 overall. Their only conference loss was to East Georgia State College in an 84 – 80 battle in Americus on January 18. The Lady Jets came back and defeated East Georgia 71 – 50 in a rematch on February 3, and then took a narrow 78 – 72 win over East Georgia in Swainsboro on February 15. East Georgia is currently 13 – 4 in conference and 21 – 8 overall. They represented the GCAA in the National Tournament last season.
South Georgia Tech and Andrew College had faced off six days earlier in the last GCAA regular season match-up and SGTC won 99 – 43 in that contest. The outcome in the first semi-final game was similar with the Lady Jets securing the win, 96 – 50.
Sophomore guard Enola Papin was the leading scorer for the Lady Jets with 15 points on the night and she tied the Lady Jets current record for the most three-pointers in a single season. Papin was three of 10 from the three-point line. That gave her 85 total three-pointers this season which tied her with Shamari Tyson, who played for the Lady Jets in 2019 – 2020. Tyson was the GCAA Player of the Year in 2020 and was an NJCAA All-American. She had the third best three-point percentage in the nation (47.2) and was 19th in the nation in three-point shooting (85 of 180), which set a new SGTC record for the most three pointers in a single season. She signed to continue her playing career with Division 1 Stetson University in Deland, FL.
Papin, a 5’ 9” sophomore guard from Saint Etienne, France, is currently 85 of 224, which is the best in the GCAA and has a 34.8% success rate from the three-point line which is third in the conference. She is currently averaging 12.6 points per game and has started all 30 of the Lady Jets contests this season. She hits 36.5% of her field goals and 82.1% of her free throws. She is also averaging 5.8 rebounds per game and 2.1 assists.
Against Andrew College Thursday, Papin had 15 points including three of 10 from the three-point line. She also had eight rebounds and five assists. She was joined in double-digits by three other teammates. Freshman guard Kaiya Carter had 14 points and four rebounds, and one blocked shot. Sophomore Mio Sakano was three of eight from the three-point line and wound up with 13 points and then sophomore Maria Favero wound up with 10 points, five rebounds and one assist.
Freshman guard and GCAA Player of the Year Jamiah Gregory had nine points and had three rebounds. She was followed by Mariia Ignatchenko, Duilly Silva, and Cheyenne Preston with eight points each. Hayda Toro followed with seven points and Stephie Salumu closed out the scoring with four points.
The Lady Jets jumped out to an early lead and never looked back. They were up 21 – 14 at the end of the first half and stretched that to 52 – 25 at the end of the first half. They continued to outscore Andrew and wound up with the 96 – 50 decision and the right to advance to the NJCAA Region XVII tournament Championship game.
Following the Lady Jets game, East Georgia State and Albany Technical College faced off to decide who would advance. East Georgia jumped out to a 21 – 3 lead over Albany Tech early in the first quarter, but the Lady Titans battled back and had cut that 18-point deficit to five points at the end of the first half with the score 37 – 32. East Georgia came out strong in the second half to secure the 71 – 57 win and advance.
The winner of the SGTC Lady Jets – East Georgia State College Lady Bobcats game will advance to the NJCAA National Tournament in Casper, Wyoming. East Georgia represented the conference in 2024 and the Lady Jets have represented the conference at the national tournament 10 times in the past 20 years.