The South Georgia Technical College Lady Jets climbed back to 16th place in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division I women’s basketball rankings last week after dropping to 18th in the first poll of the 2019 year. The Lady Jets are currently 10 – 0 in the Georgia Collegiate Athletic Association (GCAA) and 18 – 3 overall.
Two of the Lady Jets losses this season were to nationally ranked teams or teams receiving votes for the national ranking. Their other loss was the first game of the season. “Rankings are nice but they are not what counts. We have to execute on the floor and we have to play hard for 40-minutes every time we step on the court. We still have a long way to go if we want to earn another trip to the national tournament this season,” said South Georgia Technical College Athletic Director and Lady Jets head coach James Frey.
The Lady Jets earned back-to-back trips to the National Junior College Athletic Association in the 2016 – 2017 and 2017 – 2018 seasons and would like nothing better than to earn their third consecutive trip to Lubbock, Texas in 2019. They have made the trip to the national tournament four times in the last five seasons.
In addition to the 16th place NJCAA national ranking, the Lady Jets also had three players to earn individual national rankings in different categories. One of South Georgia Tech’s Jets players was also included in the NJCAA men’s individual statistic national rankings.
Sophomore guard Mari Hill from Japan moved up from 8th place in the nation in assists to the sixth place spot. She is averaging six assists per game. She is also still ranked 23rd in the nation in steals with 3.2 per game.
Sophomore Forward Fatou Pouye from Kaolack, Senegal and sophomore Center Bigue Sarr from Kaolack, Senegal were also listed in two categories each. Fatou Pouye move up two notches into 14th in the nation in offensive rebounding with 4.6 per game. She is also ranked 25th in total rebounds with 179 this season. Sarr moved up into 14th in the nation in blocks per game with 2.2. She was listed as 17th. She also was ranked 45th in total rebounds with 160.
The only member of the Jets basketball squad to garner national attention in the individual statistics was freshman Justin Johnson of Ft. Lauderdale, FL. The guard is ranked 38th in the nation in total points scored, with a total of 366 points this season in 19 games. He was ranked 25th in this category in the first poll of the new year. He was also listed as 47th in points per game with an average of 19.3 per outing. The Jets are currently 3 – 2 in the conference and 7 – 12 overall this season.
The Jets and Lady Jets travel to Albany to face Albany Technical College for a conference doubleheader on January 23rd at 5:30 and 7:30 p.m. and then to Swainsboro on January 30th to take on East Georgia State College at 5:30 and 7:30 p.m. The men will also travel to Barnesville on January 26th to face Gordon College at 3 p.m. The next home game for the Jets and Lady Jets will be on Saturday, February 2nd at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. against Central Georgia Technical College.