Lubbock, TX - Heartbreaking is the best way to describe the sixth ranked South Georgia Technical College Lady Jets 72 – 53 loss to the 11th seeded Tyler Junior College Apaches from Tyler, Texas, in the sweet sixteen round of the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division I women’s national basketball tournament in Lubbock, Texas, Wednesday night.
Tyler advanced to the Elite Eight round after the victory over South Georgia Technical College but fell 55 – 49 to the third ranked Chipola College group. Chipola advanced to the Final Four round and lost to Trinity Valley 77 – 66 in the semi-final match-up. Northwest Florida State was able to defeat Trinity Valley 67 – 60 in the championship game and capture their first national championship and the sixth straight for their conference.
“I am very proud of our young ladies,” said South Georgia Technical College Athletic Director and Lady Jets head coach James Frey. “This has been a tough year for the players with all of the COVID-19 pandemic regulations but they did everything we asked of them and they made it to the national tournament. That is quite an accomplishment and something they should be very proud of. There are no bad teams in the national tournament. Each one is a champion in their own right. I wish we could have advanced, but Tyler has a good team and did an awesome job of shooting the ball. They also put pressure on us and kept us from executing our game plan.”
Tyler Junior College earned an at-large bid to the tournament and an 11th place ranking. They opened the tournament with an impressive 72 – 60 win over Walters State on Tuesday to advance to the sweet sixteen round of the tournament where they upended the Lady Jets. “I was really skeptical going into the game that having two weeks off and waiting until Wednesday to play our first game was going to be really tough,” said Frey. “I had hoped our practice times out here were enough to knock the rust off, but that just wasn’t the case. We looked about as bad as we could look in the first quarter and Tyler made about every shot. It was evident that they had played the day before. They were fantastic from the beginning.”
The Lady Jets got off to a very slow start in the match-up with Tyler. At the end of the first 10 minutes, the Lady Jets had only scored three points until freshman Abby Solway hit a three-pointer in the final minute of the quarter to give them six points total in that quarter. Tyler hit five of six three-pointers in that first quarter which allowed them to pull ahead 19 – 6. The Lady Jets only hit 2 of 16 shots for a 12.5% field goal percentage and was one of five from the three-point line in that first quarter. That deficit proved to be too great for the Lady Jets to overcome.
The next three quarters, I thought we settled in some and competed much better,” said Frey. “We played them pretty close to even in the final three quarters. Haps off to Coach Tillis and her team. She’s one of my best friends in this business and I have a tremendous amount of respect for her and her team.”
In the second quarter, the Lady Jets were able to rebound and nearly matched Tyler point per point. They Lady Jets scored 18 points in 10 minutes while Tyler accounted for 21. The half ended with Tyler leading 40 – 24.
The Lady Jets came out stronger in the second half and the two teams both scored only 11 points in the third quarter. Tyler outscored the Lady Jets 21 – 18 in the fourth quarter to take the 72 – 53 victory. Moe Shida was the only Lady Jet in double-figures. She had 12 points.
Freshman Tena Ikidi was the next leading scorer with eight points and five rebounds. Sophomores Veronica Charles and Femme Sikuzani ended the night with seven points each. Hope Butera added six points, Maikya Simmons and Sarah Lwambo had four each, Jaidyn Trevino posted three points and then Imani McNeal, and Hope Butera closed out the scoring with one point each.
Tyler was led in scoring by Taryn Wills with 17. Veonce Powell scored 16 points, and Deborah Ogayemi followed with 12.
This was the Lady Jets fifth consecutive trip to the national tournament. They finished the 2020 – 2021 season with a 22 – 4 overall record.
Frey said that he had some hurting girls after the game. “I told them to hold their heads high. They gave us eight and a half months of incredible sacrifice and mental and emotional strain and they handled it like true pros. I could not be prouder of their dedication to our team, school, and each other. They have nothing to be ashamed of and I’m incredibly proud of all of them, my coaches, and our support staff. It’s been a fantastic year,” said Frey.
According to the NJCAA, there are about 60,000 student-athletes at its more than 500 schools that participate in 28 different sports every year. The NJCAA Division I women’s basketball league features 350 colleges that are vying for one of the 24 spots in the NJCAA Division I national tournament each year. South Georgia Technical College’s Lady Jets have filled one of those top 24 spots for each of the past five years and have managed to finish in the Sweet Sixteen round three times. While the loss to Tyler was heartbreaking, the 2020 – 2021 Lady Jets had a very successful season and one that many of the other 350 NJCAA Women’s Division I teams would be envious of.