The South Georgia Technical College Lady Jets remained in the 15th spot in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) women’s basketball national rankings for the second week in a row. And two Lady Jets, sophomores Shamari Tyson and Yasriyyah Wazeerund-Din are currently ranked fourth and fifth in the nation in three-point percentage shooting.
The Lady Jets are 26 – 2 overall and 16 - 0 in the Georgia Collegiate Athletic Association (GCAA). They clinched their fifth consecutive GCAA regular season conference title this year with two games remaining in the regular season.
The Lady Jets were ranked 24th in the pre-season national poll, then moved up three spots into 21st place prior to the Thanksgiving break. They climbed to 19th place, before rising another two spots into 17th. They rose again into the 16th position at the end of the 2019 year. But a loss to Shelton State dropped them into 17th position in the first poll of 2020. They climbed back into 16th place and remained there for four consecutive weeks. This past week saw them advance to the 15th position and they were able to hold steady in that ranking for the week of February 17th.
South Plains, Texas; was ranked number one in the nation and had the only unbeaten record in the top 25. However, a loss this week to the then 13th ranked New Mexico Junior College in a 67 – 62 decision dropped them into 3rd place. Trinity Valley, TX; and Western Nebraska both moved up a spot into the 1st and 2nd place positions. Trinity Valley is 25 – 1 and Western Nebraska is 24 – 1.
Shelton State, AL; and Northwest Florida State remained in the 4th and 5th place spots. Gulf Coast moved into sixth place followed by Jones, MS; Central Arizona, Florida SouthWestern State and New Mexico to close out the top 10.
Chipola, FL; Hutchinson, KS; Tyler, TX: and Wabash Valley, IL; filled in the 10th – 14th place rankings followed by South Georgia Technical College in 15th. South Georgia Technical College is still the only Georgia College in the NJCAA Total 25 national rankings.
Five Lady Jets are doing their part on the court to help keep their team in the national spotlight with their individual play on the court. Sophomore transfer Shamari Tyson, who transferred in from Southeastern Illinois College, moved from 9th in the nation to fourth in the nation in three-point percentage shooting. She is hitting 46.3 percent of her three point attempts. Tyson is also ranked in two other categories. She is 15th in the nation in assists per game with an average of 5.6 and ranked 31st in steals with an average of three per game.
Her teammate, Yasriyyah Wazeerund-Din dropped from third to 5th in the nation in three-point field goal success. She is hitting 46 percent of her attempts at that range. She is also ranked 11th in the nation in steals with 3.5 per game.
Freshman center Femme Sikuzani from the Congor in ranked in six different categories. She is currently listed as the seventh leading rebounder in the nation. She has a total of 316 rebounds this season in her 28 games. The 6’ 5” center is also averaging a 11.3 rebounds per game which is currently 12th overall in the nation.
She is currently listed as 8th in the nation in offensive rebounds with an average of 5.1 per game and 35th in the nation in defensive rebounds with 6.2 per outing. And she is 34th overall in field goal percentage shooting with a 55 percent success rate on her shots. She is currently in 44th place this week in blocks per game with a 1.6 average.
Sophomore Anna McKendree was the fourth Lady Jet to earn recognition. She was also listed in two different NJCAA individual stats this week. She is ranked 10th in the nation in steals with an average of 3.5 per game and she was also listed as 26th in three-point percentage shooting. She has hit 41.5 percent of her three-point attempts this season.
Sophomore guard Niya Goudelock climbed back into the national rankings this week after several weeks’ absence. She is currently ranked 49th in the nation in steals with an average of 2.8 per game over 28 games.
The remainder of the Lady Jets regular season games will be on the road until they host the NJCAA Region XVII District Tournament on February 28th and 29th. The top-ranked Lady Jets will host the fourth seeded team at 6 p.m. on Friday, February 28th. The winner of that game will play at 2 p.m. Saturday, February 29th for the opportunity to advance to the District J championship and the NJCAA national tournament.
The Jets will travel for the next two games before hosting Gordon State College on February 29th at 7 p.m. following the GCAA women’s championship game. The men’s District XVII tournament begins on March 3rd with the quarter-finals.