The South Georgia Technical College Lady Jets moved up two more spots in this week’s National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) national rankings. They moved from 19th place into the 17th seed following wins over Albany Technical College and East Georgia State College this past week.
The Lady Jets are 12 – 1 overall and 6 -0 in the Georgia Collegiate Athletic Association. They have currently put together a 10-game winning streak and will travel to Wilmington, NC to take on Cape Fear and Lackawanna College in the Cape Fear Classic on December 16th and 17th before returning to host the Lady Jets Holiday Classic on December 29th – 31st. They will face their toughest competition this season when the Lady Jets come up against Eastern Florida State and Shelton State, two other nationally ranked opponents.
The Lady Jets were ranked 24th in the pre-season national poll, then moved up three spots into 21st place prior to the Thanksgiving break. Last week they climbed to 19th place and this week they continued to move up two more spots into 17th in the nation. South Georgia Technical College is the only Georgia college currently ranked in the NJCAA Division I Women’s Basketball National rankings.
The Lady Jets are looking to make their fourth consecutive trip to the NJCAA Women’s National Basketball Tournament in Lubbock, Texas. They must win the NJCAA Region XVII title as well as the District J Championship to earn their fourth consecutive berth and fifth trip in six years under head coach James Frey.
The top four teams in the NJCAA national rankings all kept their spots this week. Gulf Coast is currently ranked first in the nation with a 10 – 0 record. They are followed by South Plains and Trinity Valley, both of Texas with 13 – 0 and 10 – 0 records, and Northwest Florida State is fourth with an 11 – 0 record. Shelton State from Alabama fell from 5th place to 11th. Central Arizona moved into 5th place at 9 – 1 and they are followed by Chipola and Hutchinson, KS with 13 – 1 and 11 – 1 records. Tyler Texas is in eighth place with a 10 – 2 record, Western Nebraska is 9th at 12 – 1 overall and Jones, MS closed out the top 10 with a 5 – 1 record.
“We are getting better every week and as long as we keep winning, we should keep moving up and getting more national attention,” said South Georgia Technical College Athletic Director and Lady Jets head coach James Frey. “The real test for us will come during the Lady Jets Holiday Classic when we face Shelton State and East Florida State, two other nationally ranked teams.”
And as the Lady Jets continue to move up in the national rankings as a team, so do the individual players. This week four Lady Jets have earned national recognition for their play on the court.
Freshman center Femme Sikuzani from Goma, DRC, is currently ranked in six different categories. Femme Sikuzani, 6’ 5”, moved up two spots into 9th place in the NJCAA in rebounds per game. She is averaging 12.8 per game over the past 13 games this season. She is currently listed as 8th in the nation in offensive rebounds with an average of 5.8 per game and 12th in the nation in defensive rebounds with 7.1 per outing. She has a total of 167 rebounds this season which has her at 6th in the nation in total rebounds. And she is currently ranked 36th overall in field goal percentage shooting with a 56.7 percent success rate on her shots. She also broke into the top 50 in blocks per game with an average of 1.5 per game.
Three other members of the Lady Jets garnered national attention for their aggressive offensive and defensive skills. Sophomore transfer Shamari Tyson, who transferred in from Southeastern Illinois College, this season is still in 9th place in the nation in assists per game with an average of 6.0.
Returning sophomore Anna McKendree from Flowery Branch, GA, suffered an ankle injury but she is still ranked nationally in steals per game with an average of 3.5. She is ranked 20th in the nation. Sophomore Yasriyyah Wazeerund-Din was listed in two different NJCAA individual stats this week. She is ranked sixth in the nation in free-throw percentage shooting, hitting 91.3 of her shots, and is 24th in the nation in steals averaging 3.3 per game.