The South Georgia Technical College 16th nationally ranked Lady Jets coasted to a 69 – 45 win over the Tallahassee Community College Lady Eagles in the opening game of the Lady Jets Holiday Classic in the James S. Peters gymnasium Tuesday. The nationally ranked Lady Jets are 12 – 4 on the season.
In the other games Tuesday, the nationally ranked Georgia Highlands Lady Chargers took an 80 – 75 victory over Gulf Coast in a battle between the seventh ranked Georgia Highlands team and the 19th ranked Gulf Coast squad. The 24th nationally ranked Eastern Florida team defeated Lawson State 68 – 49 and Chattahoochee Valley Community College defeated St. Petersburg College 70 – 62.
The Lady Jets Holiday Classic competition begins again on Wednesday, December 29th with Chattahoochee Valley opening against Tallahassee at 1 p.m. Eastern Florida plays Georgia Highlands at 3 p.m., Gulf Coast and St. Petersburg College face off at 5 p.m. and the Lady Jets close out the night with Lawson State at 7 p.m.
The tournament ends on Thursday, December 30th. The games start at 10 a.m. with Eastern Florida and Chattahoochee Valley and then at 12 noon, St. Petersburg will play Lawson State. Tallahassee Community College and Georgia Highlands match-up at 2 p.m. and the Lady Jets will close out the tournament with a game against Gulf Coast at 4 p.m.
“The Lady Jets Holiday Classic has become one of the premier junior college women’s events. This year we have eight teams including four ranked in the top 25 in the country. There is some high-level college basketball every day,” said SGTC Athletic Director and Lady Jets head coach James Frey, who invited the community to come out and support the Lady Jets.
“It is always good to get a win when you come back from a break,” said Coach Frey after the Lady Jets walked away with the 69 – 45 win over Tallahassee. “You could tell we were sluggish from the break and we still had way too many turnovers, and missed too many easy shots, but it was good to win.”
Freshman shooting forward Susana Posada Yepes from Medellin, Colombia, led the Lady Jets in scoring with 22 points. She was four of nine from the three-point line and nine of 17 from the field. In addition to her 22 points, she pulled down nine rebounds and had two steals and one assist. Red-shirt sophomore Kamiya Hollingshed was the only other Lady Jet in double-figures with a total of 10 points and five rebounds.
Two other Lady Jets, sophomore Maikya Simmons and freshman Alexia Dizeko both added nine points each. Dizeko also had 11 rebounds. Simmons had five rebounds, and two steals. Laurie Calixte and Fanta Gasama both tossed in six points, Luana Leite had four, and Loes Rozing closed out the scoring with three points. Fanta Gasama also pulled down 10 rebounds.