Nine members of the South Georgia Technical College Jets and Lady Jets 2023 – 2024 basketball teams have earned Georgia Collegiate Athletic Association (GCAA) Division I All-Academic Team honors, announced GCAA Executive Director David Elder.
The five Jets basketball players who earned the All-Academic Team honors included: sophomores Noah Barnett, Ryan Djoussa, Justin Evans, Israel Monodu, and Deonte Williams. The four Lady Jets honored as All-Academic Team members included: sophomores Vera Gunaydin, Isabel de Souza Bueno, Maeva Fotsa, and Greta Carollo.
In order to be named to the GCAA All-Academic Team, student athletes must be a sophomore with a minimum of three full-time terms and a minimum of a 3.0 cumulative GPA. Only 26 players in the GCAA earned this recognition from the men’s and women’s basketball teams.
South Georgia Technical College had the largest number of players who qualified for this honor. East Georgia State College and Emory Oxford both had five players selected, Central Georgia Technical College had four players recognized and Andrew College, Georgia Highlands, and South Georgia State College each had one player named.
The SGTC Jets finished the season with an 18 – 12 overall record and were 11 – 5 in the GCAA conference. They were ranked fourth at the end of the GCAA regular season and advanced to the NJCAA Region XVII quarterfinal round in the end of the season tournament.
In addition to his All-Academic honors, sophomore guard Deonte Williams of Sydney, Australia was the GCAA Defensive Player of the Year, First Team All-Region and named to the GCAA All-Defensive team. He was the team’s second leading scorer with 401 points in 27 games. He also had 181 rebounds, 60 steals and 22 blocked shots.
Sophomore Ryan Djoussa, a 6’ 8” forward from Dublin, Ireland, played two years at SGTC. He closed out his time as a Jet with 147 points in 27 games, 28 blocks, nine steals, 18 assists and 166 rebounds.
Jets sophomore Israel Momodu, 6’ 9” forward who came to SGTC from Shawnee Community College in Atlanta, accounted for 147 points, 17 blocks, 17 steals, 24 assists and 158 rebounds at SGTC. Justin Evans, 6’ 1” guard from Covington, GA, played two years for the Jets and ended his time at SGTC with 130 points, 19 steals, 39 assists, and 40 rebounds. Noah Barrett, 7’ 0” forward from Adelaide, Australia, had 47 rebounds, 23 assists, 17 steals and 21 points during his sophomore season with the Jets.
The four Lady Jets recognized for the academic performances were: Vera Gunaydin from Ankara, Turkey; Greta Carollo from Vicenza, Italy; Isabel de Souza Buena from Sao Paolo, Brazil; and Maeva Fotsa from Quebec, Canada.
Fotsa scored 390 points in 32 games for the Lady Jets. She had one blocked shot, seven steals, 20 assists and 332 rebounds. Vera Gunaydin led the team in scoring with 417 points in 32 games. She led the team in assists with 103, came up with 167 rebounds and 51 steals. She also had a blocked shot. She was named to the 2nd team GCAA All-Region squad along with Greta Carollo and Vera Gunnaydin.
Isabel de Souza Bueno scored 306 points in 32 games. She led the team in assists with 117, had 110 rebounds, 95 steals and three blocked shots. Greta Carollo closed out the season with 264 points in 25 games, 162 rebounds, 53 assists, 38 steals and seven blocked shots.
The Lady Jets finished the 2023 – 2024 season 21 – 11 and second in the GCAA regular season standings. They were 13 – 5 in the GCAA regular season conference. They defeated Southern Crescent, 97 – 46 in the GCAA quarter-finals and lost to Central Georgia Tech 73 – 67 in the semi-finals.