South Georgia Tech’s James Frey and Lady Jets players recognized as GCAA Coach and top players for 2016 – 2017

South Georgia Technical College Lady Jets head basketball coach James Frey was selected as the Georgia Collegiate Athletic Association (GCAA) Division I Co-Coach of the Year for the 2016 – 2017 season. This was his third time earning the Coach of the Year honors in the past four seasons and his third GCAA regular season Conference Championship in as many years. He has led his team to the National Junior College Athletic Association Division I women’s national tournament twice in his five years as the head coach at South Georgia Tech.
Lady Jets freshman point guard Kanna Suzuki from Hamamatsu, Japan was selected as the “Freshman of the Year” for the Georgia Collegiate Athletic Association and sophomore forward Desiree Corbin and sophomore guard Camille Coleman were both selected to the GCAA first team All-Conference team. Sophomore guard Shaineequah Fluellyn was also spotlighted and named to the GCAAA second team All-Conference position.
“I am so proud of this team,” said South Georgia Technical College Lady Jets head coach James Frey. “With the amount of adversity these young folks have had to endure during the past three weeks, this is by far the most rewarding GCAA Championship I have been a part of. To have lost our top three players, all sophomore leaders, has been very difficult. But our team has done a good job of remaining focused and are working really hard now to make sure that we push forward to reach our goals. We have accomplished the first goal, but now we have to keep winning to keep playing.”
The Lady Jets are currently 13 – 1 in the conference. The only loss this season in the conference was to East Georgia after the Lady Jets lost three sophomore players due to injuries and personal situations. The Lady Jets are 25 – 4 overall and ranked 20th in the National Junior College Athletic Association Division I women’s standings.
Sophomore center Desiree Corbin from Griffin, Georgia was selected to the GCAA first team All-Conference team. The 6’ 3” center played at Darton College last season was selected as the “Freshman of the Year” for 2015 – 2016. This season she has continued her success and has helped the Lady Jets to their conference championship and national rankings. She is currently averaging 9.1 points per game.
She is listed as 12th in the nation in rebounds per game with an 11.1 average, 9th in total rebounds with 299, 10th in defensive rebounding with an average of 7.3 per game and 42nd in offensive rebounding with a 3.7 average. She is also ranked 23rd in the nation in field goal percentage shooting. She is making 56.3% of her shots. She is listed as the nation’s 10th leading blocker with an average of 2.7 per game.
Corbin played in 27 games this season but has had to sit out for two weeks with a hair-line fracture to her knee. Coach Frey is hoping she will be back and ready for action during the post-season tournament play.
Another sophomore, Camille Coleman from South Bend, IN, was listed as a first-team All-Conference player in the GCAA. Coleman is also injured. She is out for the rest of the season after having surgery for a torn ACL. Despite her injuries, she was ranked 6th in three point field goal percentage shooting. She was hitting 45.6% of her shots from the three-point line. She played in 26 games this season and was averaging 10.6 points per game.
The other Lady Jet sophomore to be singled out is Shineequah Fluellyn. She is from Molena, GA and a former Darton State College player. She is averaging 9.0 points per game and has become the sophomore leader on the court for the Lady Jets after the other injuries.
SGTC Freshman guard Kanna Suzuki was selected as the “Freshman Player of the Year” this season. She is 5’ 2” and is ranked 19th in the nation in three point shooting. She is hitting 41.5% of her three point shots. She is also listed as 23rd in the nation in assists with an average of 4.9 per game. She is averaging 9.3 points per game and has played in 29 games this season for the Lady Jets.
The Lady Jets are currently entering the post-season play as the top ranked team in the conference. Coach Frey came to South Georgia Tech as the head coach in 2012-2013 and posted a 20 – 12 record that first season. He came back in 2013 – 2014 and his team won the GCAA regular season conference title, the NJCAA Region XVII tournament and the District J title game to advance to the NJCAA National Tournament. The Lady Jets finished that season with the best record in the history of the Jets or Lady Jets basketball program at 30 – 5.
In 2014 – 2015, the Lady Jets finished second in the GCAA regular season but won the NJCAA Region XVII title and the District J tournament to return to the National Tournament for the second year in a row. They posted a win in that tournament for the first time ever and finished the season at 29 – 8 and an Elite Eight finish.
This past season, the nationally ranked South Georgia Technical College Lady Jets captured the GCAA regular season conference title and were 27 – 5 and 14 – 2 in the GCAA. They lost to Georgia Highlands in the championship game of the NJCAA Region XVII conference tournament. Frey secured his 100th win as a Lady Jets head coach that season.
The Lady Jets will host Albany Tech in the first round of the NJCAA Region XVII conference tournament tonight at 6 p.m. The winner will advance to the semi-final round on Friday, March 3rd at 5:30 or 7:30 p.m. The finals will be held on Saturday, March 4th at 2 p.m. The team with the highest seed after the first round games will host the semi-finals and finals.

GCAA Women’s Tournament bracket