The South Georgia Technical College Lady Jets dropped three spots to 12th place in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division I women’s intercollegiate basketball polls after losing to the 3rd ranked Georgia Highlands Lady Chargers this past week.
The Lady Jets had climbed as high as the fifth-place spot nationally after opening the season unbeaten. Since then they have dropped to as low as 21st before they started climbing back to 14th, 13th, 11th and 9th place before falling three spots this week into 12th. They are currently in second place in the Georgia Collegiate Athletic Associate conference with a 10 – 3 record behind the top-ranked 12 - 0Georgia Highlands Lady Chargers. SGTC is 22 – 5 overall and Georgia Highlands is 22 – 2 on the season. All three of the Lady Jets conference losses have been to Georgia Highlands and former Lady Jets head coach Brandon Harrell.
Ranked ahead of Georgia Highlands in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) is Three Rivers Community College and Shelton State Community College. Western Nebraska Community College and Wabash Valley College round out the top five spots.
Northwest Florida State College, Trinity Valley Community College, Tyler Junior College, New Mexico Junior College and Chipola are ranked sixth through 10th. Moberly Area Community College is 11th followed by SGTC. College of Southern Idaho, Eastern Oklahoma State College and Arizona Western College round out the top 15 spots in the women’s national rankings.
In addition to the overall team rankings, four Lady Jets and five Jets were highlighted for their individual efforts. Freshmen Alexia Diseko and Fanta Gassama along with sophomores Kamya Hollingshed and Maikya Simmons were the four Lady Jets spotlighted. Jets Sophomores Jalen Reynolds, Will Johnston, Marvin McGhee, III, Malik Battle and Matija Millivojevic were the five Jets singled out for their individual efforts on the court. This was Millivojevic’s first time to break into the top standings.
Freshman center Fanta Gassama led the Lady Jets in individual stats this week. She is currently the fifth leading rebounder in the nation with 298 over 25 games. Her teammate Alexia Dizeko, another freshman was ranked 26th in total rebounds with 207 in 25 games. These two Lady Jets were also highlighted for their field goal percentage shooting. Dizeko is 30th hitting 56 percent of her attempted shots and Gassama is ranked 32nd with a 55.4 percent success rate from the field.
Gassama went on to standout in three rebounding categories. She is listed as the 9th best rebounder in the nation with an average of 11.9 total rebounds per game and ninth in defensive rebounds with an average of 7.4. Offensively, she is listed as 14th with 4.6 offensive rebounds each outing.
Alexia Dizeko, the freshman shooting forward from Switzerland, is currently the 22nd best scorer in the nation with a total of 377 points in 25 games. Red-shirt sophomore Kamya Hollingshed from Locus Grove, GA, joined her on this elite list in the 48th spot with a total of 328 points so far this season.
Their teammate, Maikya Simmons, the sophomore point guard from Stafford, VA, is ranked 13th in assists per game with an average of 5.1 to close out the individual accomplishments listed in the national rankings.
Jets sophomore forward Jalen Reynolds from Darien, Georgia, earned individual rankings in six categories the NJCAA weekly stats. He is currently ranked 3rd in the nation in total rebounds with 272 in 24 games and 4th in defensive rebounds per game averaging 11.3. He is also listed as 6th in rebounds per game averaging 11.3, 41st in blocks per game with 1.8 and 47th in offensive rebounds with an average of 3.2. He is 35th in field goal percentage shooting hitting 61.6 percent of his shots.
Sophomores Will Johnston, a point guard from Australia, and Marvin McGhee, III, a guard from Atlanta, Georgia are both garnering attention on the court for their scoring ability. Johnson is the 12th best free throw shooter in the league hitting 88.1 percent of his foul shots. He is also 21st in the nation in assists per game with 5.8.
Marvin McGhee is currently 26th in points per game averaging 20.3. His is listed as the 20th top points producer with 446 in 22 games this season. He was joined by his teammate Will Johnston who is listed as 33rd with 412 points.
Malik Battle, Marvin McGhee and Matija Millivojevic were all listed as leaders in the nation in three-point percentage shooting. Battle led the team with a 47.5 percent success rate from the three-point line, which is 14th best in the nation. McGhee is ranked 29th hitting 45.4 percent of his shots and Millivojevic moved into 39th place hitting 44.4 percent.
The Jets will take on Gordon College tonight at 7 p.m. in the Hangar. Both teams will travel to Albany to face the Albany Tech Titans and Lady Titans at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. on Saturday February 12th. The Jets will host Central Georgia Tech at home on February 15th at 7 p.m. There is only one more home game for the Jets or Lady Jets after that and it is on February 23th at 7 p.m. when the Jets host Andrew College.
The Lady Jets will travel to East Georgia State College on February 19th. The women’s NJCAA Region XVII tournament begins on February 19th but as one of the top two seeds, the Lady Jets will probably get a bye in that round and be seeded in the Semi-Final Region tournament at Georgia Highlands in Rome on February 25th. The finals will be played on Saturday, February 26th.
The Jets travel to Georgia Highlands on February 19th before hosting Andrew College on February 23th and traveling to East Georgia State College on February 26th to close out the season. The men’s NJCAA Region XVII tournament will begin March 1st with the top four teams hosting the first round and the highest seeded team remaining hosting the semi-finals and finals on March 4th and 5th.