Six members of the South Georgia Technical College Jets and Lady Jets basketball team were recognized by the Georgia Collegiate Athletic Association (GCAA) for their outstanding performance on the basketball court recently. Both the Jets and the Lady Jets qualified for the GCAA tournaments and will host a quarterfinal round of the GCAA men’s and women’s tournaments tonight (March 12) at 5:30 and 7:30 p.m.
Those six athletes included: Jets sophomore guard Deonte Williams, freshman guard Camarion Johnson and freshman forward Jafeth Martinez; along with Lady Jets sophomore guard Vera Gunaydin sophomore guard Greta Carollo, and sophomore center Maeva Fotsa. The Lady Jets are coached by Jason Carpenter and the Jets are coached by Chris Ballauer.
Deonte Williams of Sydney, Australia, was named the GCAA Division I Men’s Defensive Player of the Year and was listed on the GCAA first team All-Region team. He was also on the All-Defensive Team list. Freshman Camarion Johnson from Brunswick, GA was included on the GCAA All-Region first team and freshman Jafeth Martinez of Roatan, Houduras, was a member of the GCAA All-Defensive Team.
The three Lady Jets players who were spotlighted included guard Vera Gunaydin from Ankara, Turkey; Greta Carollo of Vincenza, Italy; and forward Maea Fotsa from Quebec, Canada as members of the GCAA All-Region second team.
These six players led their teams to impressive records in the 2023 – 2024 season. The Lady Jets are currently ranked second in the GCAA with a 13 – 5 conference record and a 20 – 10 overall performance. The Jets are fourth in the conference with an 11 – 5 record and are 17- 11 overall.
Deonte Williams led the Jets in scoring with 377 points and was the strongest defensive player in the league. He shot 52.6% from the free throw line, hit 31% of his three-point attempts and sank 52.2% of his shots from the field. He also had 172 rebounds, 115 assists, 59 steals and 22 blocked shots. He started all 25 games that he played in this season.
Camarion Johnson was the second leading scorer for the Jets with 376 points. He hit 70.7% of his free throw attempts, 31.7% of his three-point attempts and 40.9 of his shots from the field. He came away with 143 rebounds, 75 assists and 43 steals. He started 25 of the 26 games he played in.
Jafeth Martinez only played in 18 games this season for the Jets but scored 103 points and had 94 rebounds. He hit 50% of his free throw attempts and 57.4% of his attempted shots. He had 33 blocked shots.
GCAA Women's Tournament Bracket
Vera Gunaydin started all 30 games for the Lady Jets and scored 387 points. She was a 78.6% free throw shooter, hit 33.3% of her three-point attempts and 40.8% of her shots from the field. She also had 152 rebounds, 102 assists and 47 steals. Maeva Fotsa was the team’s leading rebounder with 320 this season. She scored 375 points, hit 68.9% of her free throws and 43.3% of her total shots. She had 20 assists and seven steals this season.
Sophomore Greta Carollo started 15 of the 23 games she played in for the Lady Jets. She scored 248 points, shot 87.1% from the free throw line, 38.3% from the three-point line and hit 40.6% of her attempts from the field. She also had 11 rebounds, 51 assists, and 37 teals in addition to seven blocked shots.
The second-ranked SGTC Lady Jets will host the seventh ranked Southern Crescent Lady Tigers at 5:30 p.m. and the fourth-ranked SGTC Jets will host the fifth-seeded Central Georgia Technical College Titans at 7:30 in the Hangar on the Americus campus.
The winner of the GCAA quarterfinal games will advance to the semi-final rounds on Friday, March 15. The winner for the Lady Jets – Southern Crescent Technical College game will travel to the top-ranked East Georgia State College campus in Swainsboro. The winner will play the winner of the Central Georgia Tech – Georgia Highlands game at 8 p.m. Friday, March 15. East Georgia State will take on the winner of the Albany Tech – Andrew game at 6 p.m., March 15. The two winners will advance to the finals at 2 p.m. at East Georgia State on Saturday, March 16.
In the men’s National Junior College Athletic Association Region XVII tournament, the winner of the Jets – Central Georgia Tech game will advance to the semi-finals on Friday, March 15 in Albany. They will face the winner of the Albany Tech – Andrew College game at 7 p.m. Friday at Albany State. South Georgia State College will play East Georgia State on March 12 and Georgia Highlands and Gordon College face off to determine who will advance to the other GCAA semi-final round at 5 p.m. Friday. The two winners will meet in the finals at 2 p.m. Saturday at Albany State.