In a battle between the GCAA Co-Coaches of the Year, South Georgia Technical College Athletic Director and Lady Jets head coach James Frey showed exactly why he has been named Coach of the Year or Co-Coach of the year six of the eight years he has been coaching at South Georgia Technical College.
Frey and his nationally ranked Lady Jets rolled to an impressive 89 – 65 victory over the fourth-seeded East Georgia State College Lady Bobcats and co-coach of the year Warren Goosby in the semi-final round of the NJCAA Region XVII end of the season tournament hosted at South Georgia Technical College. The Lady Jets won the GCAA regular season conference title after posting its second straight undefeated conference record with a perfect 17 – 0 performance. The Lady Jets are 28 – 2 overall this season.
The Lady Jets are set to face Georgia Highlands for the fourth time this season in a battle for the NJCAA Region XVII Tournament Title at 2 p.m. on Saturday, February 29th in the Hangar at South Georgia Technical College. The winner of this game will represent the GCAA at the District J Championship game next weekend and the right to advance to the NJCAA National Tournament in Lubbock, Texas. Georgia Highlands defeated Central Georgia Tech in the other semi-final match-up to advance to the tournament finals.
“We played a great half,” said South Georgia Technical College head coach James Frey after his team defeated East Georgia State College 89 – 65. We outscored East Georgia every quarter but the first quarter but we played about as bad as we could play in the first half and were still up by nine points at half-time.”
East Georgia was up 19 – 16 at the end of the first quarter, but the Lady Jets rallied late in the second quarter to outscore East Georgia 25 – 13 to take a 41 – 32 lead at the end of the first half. A renewed South Georgia Tech team came out of the locker room and simply dominated in the second half outscoring East Georgia 23 – 14 in the third quarter and 25 – 19 in the fourth period to coast to a 24-point victory.
GCAA Player of the Year Shamari Tyson led the Lady Jets in scoring with 23 points. She was seven of 11 from the three-point line. She also pulled down four rebounds, had three assists and a steal. GCAA second team All-Region player Anna McKendree posted 20 points, four rebounds and an assist. She was six of eleven from the three-point line.
Two other Lady Jets were in double-digits against East Georgia State. GCAA first team All-Region player Yasriyyah Wazeerud-Din had 17 points, four rebounds, six assists, and two blocked shots. Sophomore Niya Goudelock was the other Lady Jet in double-figures. She had 13 points, four rebounds, and one assist.
Flore Ggasamputu added eight points and pulled down 11 rebounds. Hope Butera scored four points and Amara Edeh and Oumy Gueye both contributed two points.
In the other semi-final contest Friday, the second ranked Georgia Highlands team defeated the third-ranked Central Georgia Tech Lady Titans, 71 – 56 to advance to the finals against South Georgia Technical College on Saturday at 2 p.m. in Americus.
GCAA Player of the Year Shamari Tyson, 1, leads the Lady Jets to a victory in the semi-final round of the NJCAA Region XVII tournament semi-finals against East Georgia State.