Lubbock, Texas – The top-ranked South Georgia Technical College Lady Jets Cinderella season came to a heartbreaking crash Saturday in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division 1 Women’s national tournament when the eventual NJCAA National Champion Northwest Florida State Raiders overcame an 18-point deficit in the third quarter to capture a 72 – 61 win and move on to the NJCAA Final Four and National Championship match-ups.
The Lady Jets went into the NJCAA National Tournament with the top ranking after earning that spot for the last nine weeks. This was the first number one ranking in the history of the college. The Lady Jets had a 33-consecutive game winning streak and had posted the best record ever recorded at SGTC by either the men’s or women’s basketball teams at 33 – 1. They were only two games away from the first National Championship for the college. They finished the season with a 33 – 2 overall record.
“We looked like the number one team in the country for the first two quarters,” said South Georgia Technical College Athletic Director and Lady Jets head basketball coach James Frey. “The team executed everything we talked about. However, at this level, you have to play four complete quarters if you hope to win. We failed to do that and Northwest Florida State came back and did what they had to do to take the win away from us.”
Northwest Florida State was down 40 – 25 at the half. The Lady Jets hit eight of 13 from the three-point line and were 100% from the foul line hitting four for four. They also made 14 of their 32 shots from the field. They held Northwest Florida State to only eight points in the first quarter with the Lady Jets up 16 – 8 after the first 10 minutes and then continued to outscore them 24 – 17 in the second quarter to pull ahead by 15.
The Lady Jets stretched their lead to 49 – 31 with 5:41 seconds remaining in the third quarter. From that point on, the Northwest Florida State Lady Raiders began to chip away at the lead and had cut the deficit to 51 – 47 at the end of the third quarter.
South Georgia Technical College was outscored 22 – 11 in the third quarter and 25 – 10 in the fourth quarter to allow Northwest Florida State to overcome the 18-point deficit and pile on an 11-point lead in the second half of the Elite Eight championship match-up. Northwest Florida hit eight of 16 three-pointers in the second half while the Lady Jets were two of eight in that same time frame.
It was a heartbreaking loss for the Lady Jets in the 29-point swing in less than 20-minutes. SGTC fans could almost feel certain victory at the end of the first half but felt a knot tighten in their stomachs after the two teams became tied at 51 – 51 with 8:41 remaining in the game.
The two teams battled back and forth for the lead with it changing four times in the next three minutes. Northwest Florida State pulled ahead 58 – 57 with 5:25 remaining and were up 63 – 61 with 2:54 remaining.
South Georgia Technical College was completely shutdown from scoring in the last 2:54 while the Lady Raiders posted nine-points to win 72 – 61. The 8th seeded Northwest Florida State Raiders went on to capture the 2023 NJCAA Division I Women’s basketball championship title after defeating 4th seeded Southern Idaho in the semi-final match-up and then defeating 3rd seeded Trinity Valley 66 – 63 in overtime in the championship game.
The 2023 Championship marks the Lady Raiders 13th national tournament appearance and second national title in program history. The Lady Raiders won their first national tournament championship in 2021. Head Coach Bart Walker has led Northwest Florida State to a national tournament appearance in all six years that he has been head coach. Two of those six years resulted in a national title.
South Georgia Technical College head coach James Frey has led the Lady Jets to nine NJCAA national tournaments in his 12-years at the helm. The Lady Jets have made a total of 10 appearances on the national stage. The Elite Eight is as high as they have finished. Coach Frey earned his 300th career victory as a head coach this season.
The 2022 – 2023 season was magical for the Lady Jets. They lost the first game of the season to Gulf Coast 76 – 61 but then rallied back to post a perfect 15 – 0 record in the Georgia Collegiate Athletic Association (GCAA) and win the GCAA regular season title and the NJCAA Region 17 tournament title. The Lady Jets overpowered Spartanburg Methodist in the NJCAA Southwest District Championship to earn their seventh consecutive trip to the national tournament.
The Lady Jets entered the tournament with the top ranking and a 32 – 1 overall record. They defeated Moberly Area Community College 54 – 49 in the Sweet Sixteen round of the tournament to advance to the Elite Eight against the eighth seeded Northwest Florida State College Lady Raiders.
“It was a great season. It was just heartbreaking to feel like we had a good shot at the national title and let it get away,” said Frey. “We had a great group of sophomores and I wish they could have gone further.”
Sophomore forward Alexia Dizeko was the leading scorer for the Lady Jets in both of their national tournament match-ups. She had 19 against Moberly Area and then came back with 19 against Northwest Florida State. She also had four rebounds, one steal and one assist.
Sophomore Susana Yepes had a tremendous tournament for the Lady Jets. She scored 18 points against Northwest Florida State hitting six of seven three pointers. She had 10 crucial points against Moberly area and was two of three from the three-point line in that game.
Sophomore Center Fanta Gassama was the only other Lady Jet in double digits in the Northwest Florida game. She wound up with 12 points and 15 rebounds. Laurie Calixte was next with seven points. DaNae Williams and Loes Rozing both added two points. Luana Leite closed out the scoring with one point.