The South Georgia Technical College Lady Jets moved up three spots into 4th place in the National Junior College Athletic Association’s (NJCAA) Division I women’s basketball poll released this week. The Lady Jets moved up from 7th place after securing three back to back wins and moving to 12 – 1 on the season. The Lady Jets only loss this season was to the second ranked Gulf Coast State College Lady Commodores in the season opener.
Eastern Florida State moved into first place in the national rankings with a 13 – 0 record. Gulf Coast is currently in second place with an impressive 11 – 0 performance. Southern Idaho is third and South Georgia Technical College is fourth with identical 12 – 1 records. Blinn closed out the top five spots with an 11 – 1 season.
Trinity Valley, Northwest Florida State, McLennan, Collin County, and Casper closed out the remaining top 10 positions in descending order. SGTC is still the only Georgia college listed in the top 25 teams in the nation.
In addition to its 4th place ranking in the national poll, the SGTC Lady Jets also had five players to be recognized for their individual efforts on the court. The SGTC Jets, who are struggling with a 3 – 7 start to the season, had one player also currently ranked nationally for his skills on the court.
The five Lady Jets featured in the national rankings include: sophomore center Fanta Gassama, sophomore Loes Rozing, sophomore Alexia Dizeko, sophomore Luana Leite, and freshman Veronika Palfi. Sophomore guard Semaj Henderson was the only Jet featured in the national rankings.
Gassama, 6’ 1” center from Mataro, Spain, is currently listed as 9th in the country in rebounds per game with a total of 152. She is also ranked 10 in rebounds per game with an average of 11.7. She was featured in two other categories. She was tied for 10th in defensive rebounds per game with 7.8 and tied for 30th in offensive rebounds per game with a 3.8 average.
Lady Jets sophomore guard Alexia Dizeko, 5’ 11” from Sion, Switzerland, is currently tied for 28th in total points scored this season with 203. She is also ranked 42nd in the nation in field goal percentage shooting making 56% of her shots and averaging 15.6 points per game.
Freshman guard Veronika Palfi, 5’ 6” from Pecs, Hungary and sophomore guard Luana Leite were both ranked nationally for their three-point percentage shooting. Palfi is 25th in the nation. She has hit 45.7 percent of her three-point attempts. Leite is in the 29th spot. She makes 43.6 of her three-point shots.
The fifth Lady Jet featured was sophomore point guard Loes Rozing, 5’ 10”. She is ranked 20th in the nation in assists averaging 5.0 per game over 13 games.
Sophomore transfer guard from Chicago, Il, Semaj Henderson was the only Jet listed in the national rankings this week. He is currently listed as 15th in the nation in assists per game averaging 5.18. He is also tied for 23rd best in steals per game with a 2.5 average after 10 games.
The Jets will finish the 2022 part of the season on the road. They travel to Panama City, FL to face Gulf Coast State College on December 14th at 7 p.m. CST. They will participate in the Florida Southwest Classic on December 29th and 30th. They open with State College of Florida in the Ft. Myers game and then end the year with a match against Florida Southwest College.
The Lady Jets travel to Macon to face Central Georgia Tech at 5:30 on December 14th and then travel to Tallahassee, FL on December 20th to play Tallahassee Community College.
They close out the season with a December 29th 6 p.m. game at home against Snow College and then face Tallahassee Community College and Chattahoochee Valley Community College on December 31st and January 1 in the Lady Jets Holiday Classic.
In the Lady Jets Holiday Classic, three of the top four teams in the NJCAA Division 1 rankings will be playing on the SGTC campus but they will not play each other. On Friday, December 30th the second ranked Gulf Coast team will play Chattahoochee Valley Community College at 1 p.m., Central Georgia Tech will play St. Pete at 3 p.m., Snow College will face the number one Eastern Florida team at 5 p.m. and Shelton State will match up with Tallahassee at 7 p.m.
On New Year’s Eve, Gulf Coast will open up with St. Pete at 11 a.m., CVCC will face Eastern Florida at 1 p.m., Central Georgia Tech and Shelton State play at 3 p.m. followed by Snow and Georgia Highlands at 5 p.m. The Lady Jets face Tallahassee at 7 p.m.
New Year’s Day will begin at 11 a.m. with Tallahassee and St. Pete playing at 11 a.m. followed by Shelton State and Eastern Florida at 1 p.m. Gulf Coast and Georgia Highlands play at 3 p.m. and the Lady Jets take on Chattahoochee Valley Community College at 5 p.m. to end the tournament.