The South Georgia Technical College Jets and Lady Jets both captured big Georgia Collegiate Athletic Association (GCAA) wins over Georgia Highlands College in the Hangar on the Americus campus Wednesday. The nationally ranked Lady Jets opened up with a 75 – 59 win over the Georgia Highlands Lady Chargers and then the Jets came back and edged out the Georgia Highlands Chargers 93 – 89. The 16th nationally ranked South Georgia Tech Lady Jets became the only unbeaten women’s team left in the GCAA after posting a 16-point victory over the second place and previously unbeaten GCAA Georgia Highlands Lady Chargers. South Georgia Tech’s women moved to 17 – 2 overall and 9 – 0 in the conference and Georgia Highlands stayed in second place with a 5 – 1 GCAA record and an 8 – 9 overall performance. “I was not happy with the way we played, but a conference win by 16 points over a tough opponent like Georgia Highlands is a good win,” said South Georgia Technical College Athletic Director and Lady Jets head coach James Frey. “Brandon Harrell always has his team prepared and we made a lot of mental and physical mistakes but we were still able to come out with the victory and right now that is important.” This was the fourth consecutive win for the Lady Jets since dropping a tough loss to the nationally ranked Shelton State Lady Bucs. Sophomore center Bigue Sarr led the Lady Jets in scoring with 16 points. She was followed by sophomore guard Alyssa Nieves who posted 14 points on the night including four three point baskets. Freshman forward Yasriyyah Wazeerud-Din came off the bench to add 10 points and close out the double-digit scoring. Fatou Pouye contributed nine points, Ricka Jackson had eight points, Laky Samo accounted for six points and Mari Hill had five points. Amar Edeh tossed in four points, Rio Yamazaki got two points and Kamya Hollinshed came away with one point. Following the Lady Jets victory, the Jets roared out and took a commanding 16-point lead early in the first half against Georgia Highlands. However, the Georgia Highlands Chargers galloped back with only six men on the roster to pull ahead 48 – 45 at the end of the first half. The Jets were able to overtake Georgia Highlands in the second half and pull ahead to take the 93 – 89 win and give the Chargers their first loss in the GCAA. Georgia Highlands is now in fourth place in the conference. The win elevated the Jets into a tie for fifth place with a 1 – 2 conference record and a 5 – 12 effort overall. “It has been a very, very turbulent season to say the least,” said South Georgia Technical College Jets head coach Travis Garrett. “We have got to learn to win and I am hoping tonight helped. We have got to learn how to play for 40 minutes and play with intensity. We made a lot of mental mistakes. We still have a long way to go but I am so glad we got the win. I hope it energizes us and gets up going.” The Jets were led in scoring by freshman Justin Johnson with 25 points. Sophomore Sam Matice added 14 points, and then freshmen Dijon Brown and Nick Cummings came off the bench to give the Jets a spark with 12 and 10 points respectively. Nick Cummings posted a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Sophomore Adonis Green tossed in eight points, Toriano Lewis had seven, Jonathan Tchuisse scored six, DJ Fisher posted five, and Jeremy Johnson accounted for four points in that contest. Jayland McKinney had two points. The Jets are now tied with Albany Tech in fifth place in the conference. Both the Jets and the Lady Jets have a week off and then travel to Griffin to take on Southern Crescent on Wednesday, January 16th at 5:30 and 7:30. The Southern Crescent women are 1 – 6 in the conference and 5 - 9 overall and the men are 0 – 2 in the GCAA and 9 – 6 overall. The Jets will travel to Waycross on Saturday, January 19th and the Lady Jets go to Hanceville, AL to play Wallace State College. The next home game for the Jets and Lady Jets will be February 2nd at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. against Central Georgia Technical College.
