South Georgia Technical College Lady Jets jump to 17th in national polls

The top-ranked Georgia Collegiate Athletic Association’s South Georgia Technical College Lady Jets moved up one spot into 17th place in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division I women’s basketball Top 25 poll released February 14th. South Georgia Tech was in the 18th place spot last week and is still the only Georgia women’s team included in the NJCAA Division I national rankings. They have moved up six spots since reentering the polls three weeks ago. The Lady Jets were 11 – 0 in the GCAA and 23 – 3 overall at the time of the ranking. They lost a close decision to East Georgia the day after the rankings were released and are currently 23 – 4 and 11 – 1 in the conference. “We are still the only Georgia team in the NJCAA Division I rankings right now,” said South Georgia Technical College Athletic Director and Lady Jets head coach James Frey. “We are facing challenges with injuries, but we are just going to have to have some younger players step up and fill those gaps if we plan to reach the goals we set at the beginning of the season.” Odessa, Texas moved into the number one spot in the NJCAA Division I women’s rankings with a 21 – 0 record. They were third last week. Hutchinson, KS remained in second place Gulf Coast State fell to third place with a 24 – 2 record. Salt Lake and Seward County, KS are in the fourth and fifth place positions. Chipola, FL; South Plains, TX; Tallahassee, FL, New Mexico, NM, and Trinity Valley, TX; are ranked in order from sixth place to 10th place. In addition to the Lady Jet’s 17th place overall ranking in the women’s NJCAA Division I basketball poll, the Lady Jets also had several individual players spotlighted. Camille Coleman, Desiree Corbin, Esther Adenike, and Kanna Suzuki are all among the top players in the nation in individual categories. Sophomore forward Desiree Corbin moved up two spots into the 12th place position in the nation in rebounds per game with an average of 11.1. She has played in 24 games this season. The top ranked rebounder in the nation is averaging 14.8. Corbin is currently out with a hair-line fracture to her knee but is hoping to be able to return to the court after a week or two of rehab and rest. She is also ranked 9th in total rebounds this season with 299, 10th in this week’s poll in defensive rebounding with an average of 7.3 per game and 42nd in offensive rebounding with a 3.7 average per game. Corbin was also ranked nationally in field goal percentage shooting. She is making 56.3% of her attempts this season and moved up from 25th to 23rd in the national rankings in that category. The sophomore from Griffin, GA, also earned a 10th place spot in the nation in blocks per game. She is averaging 2.7. The national leader is averaging 3.4 blocks per game. Camille Coleman, a sophomore guard from South Bend, Indiana, is out for the rest of the season with a torn ACL but she was still ranked 6th this week in three point field goal percentage shooting. She is hitting 45.6% of her shots from the three-point line. She played in 26 games this season and is averaging 10.6 points per game. The leading three-point shooter in the nation has a 51.4% success rate and is averaging 12.5 points. Freshman guard Kanna Suzuki broke into the three point field goal percentage shooting category this week for the first time. She is ranked 19th with a 41.5% success rate. She has played in 27 games and is averaging 9.8 points per game. She has also retained her position at 23rd in the nation in assists with an average of 4.9 per game. SGTC freshman forward Esther Adenike was the other SGTC player listed in this week’s rankings. She is 17th in the nation in total rebounds with 254 rebounds in 27 games. She is also ranked nationally in rebounding with a 9.5 average. She moved up to 33rd in the nation from 37th last week. She is 37th in offensive rebounds with an average of 4.0 per game. The Lady Jets will travel to Albany to face the sixth-place Albany Technical College Lady Titans at 5:30 p.m. in a conference double-header. The Jets and the Titans will follow at 7:30 p.m. The Lady Jets need to win at least one of their last two regular season conference games to capture the GCAA regular season title for the second year in a row and host the NJCAA District XVII tournament which begins on February 28th. Georgia Highlands is currently in second place with a 10 – 2 record but SGTC has beaten Georgia Highlands twice in head to head competition. After the Albany Tech game on Wednesday, the Lady Jets and Jets will host Atlanta Metropolitan College on Saturday, February 25th at 1 p.m. for Sophomore Day. The Jets will follow at 3 p.m. All SGTC sophomore players will be recognized at the games on Saturday, February 25th. Atlanta Metro is currently 2 – 9 and in last place.