She stands only 5’ 7” inches tall, but Alyssa Nieves has been playing some big time basketball for South Georgia Technical College’s nationally ranked Lady Jets. The sophomore guard from Tampa, FL, shattered two records for the Lady Jets this past week and earned the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division I women’s Player of the Week as well as the Georgia Collegiate Athletic Association Player of the Week honors. This is only the second time that a member of the Lady Jets squad has earned the NJCAA Player of Week recognition in the 15-year history of the program.
“I am excited that Alyssa was recognized by the NJCAA for her incredible play,” said South Georgia Technical College Athletic Director and Lady Jets head coach James Frey. “She’s been very consistent for us all year and has worked hard to make herself one of the premier shooters in junior college basketball. In addition to her athletic talent, Alyssa has above a 3.3 grade point average and really is a great example of what being a student athlete is all about.”
Nieves earned the National Player of the Week recognition after averaging 36 points in the Lady Jets wins over Andrew College and Georgia Highlands, February 6th and February 9th. She had a career high 41 points in the win over Andrew College on February 6th, which was a new record for most points scored by a Lady Jet in a single game. She also set a new record for the most three-point shots made in a single game with 11. The Lady Jets also set a new record for the most points scored in a single game with 109 in the win over Andrew College.
The sophomore guard followed up that career high performance with another amazing game against the second place GCAA Georgia Highlands Lady Charges in Rome on February 9th. She scored 31 points, had five rebounds, five assists, and one steal in her second 30 plus points game in two outings. She made seven three point shots in the game against Georgia Highlands. Those efforts earned her the GCAA Player of the Week honors as well.
Nieves gave a lot of credit to her teammates for her success on the court. “Everything I shot was going in against Andrew College and Coach Frey and my teammates just kept feeding me the ball and running plays to get the ball in my hands and it just kept going in,” laughed Nieves. “I am very honored to be recognized by the NJCAA as the Player of the Week.”
Nieves also recognized that her efforts were just part of a much larger game plan for the Lady Jets. “We want to go back to the National Tournament,” said Nieves. “That has been our plan since the beginning of the year. We all have to work together to make sure that happens.”
The Lady Jets have made back to back trips to the NJCAA Division I Women’s National Tournament and have gone four of the last five years under head coach James Frey and Assistant Coach Kezia Conyers.
The Lady Jets are currently ranked 22nd in the National Junior College Athletic Association. They are 15 – 0 in the GCAA and 23 – 3 overall. The Lady Jets lost the first game of the season to Santa Fe College, 68 – 66. They rallied to post 13 consecutive wins before dropping a loss to nationally ranked Shelton State. The Lady Jets rallied again and posted six straight wins before falling to Wallace State, who was receiving votes to be included in the national ranking.
The Lady Jets have now won five straight games. A win over Southern Crescent on Saturday will seal the GCAA regular season title for the Lady Jets for the fifth time in six years and allow South Georgia Tech to host the NJCAA Region XVII end of the season Tournament. The Lady Jets need to win that tournament and clinch the District J game to head back to the National Tournament for the third straight season.