Rome, GA – The National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Region XVII tournament finals will be a battle between two nationally ranked teams. The 3rd ranked Georgia Highlands Lady Chargers will match-up against the 8th ranked South Georgia Technical College Lady Jets on Saturday, February 26th at 2 p.m. in Rome on Georgia Highlands home court. This will be the seventh time in nine years that the two teams have met in the finals.
The Lady Jets and Coach James Frey earned their ninth berth in the finals in the past 10 years by defeating Andrew College 67 – 48 in the NJCAA Region XVII tournament semi-finals. Georgia Highlands secured an 86 – 59 victory over East Georgia State College in the other semi-final match-up.
South Georgia Technical College head coach James Frey and former Lady Jets head coach Brandon Harrell, who started Georgia Highlands program in 2012, have been in this same position six times in the past 10 years. Coach Frey and the Lady Jets have come out on top five of the six times the two teams have met. Two of the final tournament games were decided in over-time and two other games were decided by a last second basket.
The Lady Jets defeated Georgia Highlands in Rome, 80 – 71 in overtime last year and were victorious in the 2019 – 2020 tournament with a 69 – 63 win. SGTC won again in 2018 – 2019, 75 – 57. The Lady Jets took a 2 – 0 forfeit over Central Georgia Tech in 2017 – 2018 after Central Georgia and Georgia Highlands had players ejected in the semi-finals and Central only had four players eligible to start which forced them to forfeit. Georgia Highlands and SGTC met again in the 2016 – 2017 and the 2015 -2016 finals. SGTC won in 2016 – 2017, 65 – 63, and Georgia Highlands won in 2015 – 2016, 65 – 63. The first time the two teams met in the finals was in 2012 – 2013 and Coach Frey managed to come away with a 59 – 54 win.
“Coach Harrell and Georgia Highlands have a really good team. They are currently ranked third in the nation, so we will have to play our best game this season to match-up with them,” said Lady Jets head coach James Frey. “We know we have our work cut out for us, but if we play hard, limit turnovers, be aggressive on defense and have a good night shooting the ball, anything can happen.”
The Lady Jets and the Lady Chargers have meet three times already this season and Georgia Highlands defeated the eighth ranked Lady Jets all three times. Georgia Highlands comes into the tournament undefeated in the conference and the Lady Jets have won all of their conference games except in match-ups with Georgia Highlands. “We finished the regular season 25 – 5 playing nine freshmen and only two sophomores, so I am very proud of the way we have come together, but right now, it doesn’t matter about records, it comes down to the next game and how we perform on the court,” said Coach Frey.
Two of those freshmen scored in double-figures to lift the Lady Jets to the 67 – 48 victory over Andrew College. Freshman Alexia Dizeko led the teams in scoring with 17 points. Sophomore Kamya Hollingshed was four of nine from the three-point line to walk away with 12 points. Another freshman, Fanta Gassama tossed in 10 points and pulled down 15 rebounds. Freshman Susanna Posada accounted for seven points, sophomore Maikya Simmons and Mama Thaiw both scored six points, Laurie Calixte had five, Luana Leite, 3, and Camryn Ja