South Georgia Technical College Lady Jets jump to 18th in national polls

The top-ranked Georgia Collegiate Athletic Association’s South Georgia Technical College Lady Jets moved up three spots into 18th place in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division I women’s basketball Top 25 poll released February 7th. South Georgia Tech was in the 21st 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 two weeks ago. The Lady Jets are 9 – 0 in the GCAA and have posted a 21 – 3 overall record this season. They are currently on a nine-game winning streak. “We are doing what we need to do. We are winning and moving up each week in the polls. That is the two main things that we need to accomplish right now – winning and moving up,” said South Georgia Technical College Athletic Director and Lady Jets head coach James Frey. Gulf Coast moved into the top spot in the NJCAA Division I women’s rankings with a 23 – 1 record. They were second last week but Odessa, Texas lost this week and fell to 3rd place. Hutchinson Kansas moved from third place into second place with their 22 – 1 overall record. New Mexico and Salt Lake rounded out the top five spots. Seward County, Kansas; South Plains, Texas; Chipola, FL; Tallahassee, FL; and Shelton State, AL are ranked in order from sixth place to 10th place. “These polls are important because of the at-large bid process. Obviously we want to earn a spot to the National Tournament by winning our conference, the NJCAA District 17 tournament and the District J play in game. However, these national rankings affect your seed in the tournament or if you receive an at-large bid, so it is crucial that we keep winning and keep moving up,” said Frey. In addition to the Lady Jet’s 18th 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. Camille Coleman, a sophomore guard from South Bend, Indiana, slipped from 5th place to 6th place this week in three point field goal percentage shooting. She is hitting 45.6% of her shots from the three-point line. She has played in 24 games this season and is averaging 10.9 points per game. The leading three-point shooter in the nation has a 57.8% success rate and is averaging 13 points. Sophomore forward Desiree Corbin remained ranked 14th in the nation in rebounds per game with an average of 10.8. She has played in 24 games this season. The top ranked rebounder in the nation is averaging 15.2. She maintained her ranking despite being injured in the Central Georgia Tech and only playing nine minutes. She had to have eight stitches but should return to action this week. In addition to 14th overall in rebounds per game, Corbin moved up to 10th place in defensive rebounding with 7.3 per game. She has a total of 260 rebounds this season which has her in the seventh place national ranking for total number of rebounds this season. Corbin was also ranked nationally in field goal percentage shooting. She is making 56.2% of her attempts this season and is ranked 25th. The sophomore from Griffin, GA, also earned a ninth place spot in the nation in blocks per game. She is averaging 2.8. The national leader has only played in 13 games and is averaging 3.3 blocks per game. Another SGTC forward, freshman Esther Adenike is ranked nationally in rebounding with a 9.5 average. She moved up to 33rd in the nation from 37th last week. She also moved up one spot in the offensive rebound ranking to 34th with an average of 4.0 per game and 14th in total rebounds with 229. The final member of the SGTC Lady Jets enjoying a national ranking is freshman guard Kanna Suzuki from Hamamatsu, Japan. She is ranked 23nd in the nation in assists with 4.9 assists per game. The Lady Jets travel to Marietta today to take on Chattahoochee Tech in a conference double-header with the Jets. Tip-off for the Lady Jets is 5:30 and 7:30 for the Jets. Both teams return home for an important conference double-header with Georgia Highlands on Saturday, February 11th. The Lady Jets open at 1 p.m. followed by the Jets at 3 p.m. All fans will be admitted to the game free if they wear red. SGTC will also be giving away t-shirts on a first come first serve basis as long as the supply lasts.