Lubbock, Texas - The number one ranked South Georgia Technical College Lady Jets broke the two-year curse of number one teams losing their first game in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division I Women’s National Basketball Tournament Thursday as they edged out the 17th ranked Moberly Area Community College Greyhounds 54 – 49 in the Sweet Sixteen round in the Rip Griffin Center at Lubbock Christian University in Lubbock, Texas.
Coach Frey is hoping this team can break another curse when the Lady Jets face the Northwest Florida State Raiders on Saturday at 2 p.m. EST in the Elite Eight round of the NJCAA National Tournament. No South Georgia Technical College team or head coach has ever won two games at a national tournament. This is the 10th trip for the Lady Jets and seventh consecutive time of earning the right to play on the national stage. Coach James Frey is hoping he and the 2022 – 2023 Lady Jets can overcome that obstacle Saturday.
The Elite Eight game between South Georgia Tech and Northwest Florida will be televised on the njcca.org/network. There is a $10 per day charge to view the games. The Lady Jets extended their winning streak to 33 straight games following the win over Moberly Area Community College in the Sweet Sixteen round of the National Tournament. Northwest Florida State defeated 9th Shelton State 59 – 51 to advance. They are 25 – 4.
The Lady Jets are 33 – 1, which is the most wins in the history of the Jets and Lady Jets basketball teams. SGTC Head Coach James Frey also captured his 300th career win as a head coach this season and guided the Lady Jets to their 10th national tournament appearance. Nine of them have been under his tutelage.
When asked about the game against Moberly Area Community College, SGTC Athletic Director and Lady Jets head coach James Frey said, “It was not pretty but we won. We didn’t play our game and we turned the ball over way too many times, but at the end of the day, we won and we get to play again.”
Moberly Area Community College upset 16th ranked Barton College 64 - 56 in overtime on the opening day of the tournament to advance to the Sweet Sixteen round against South Georgia Technical College, which drew a bye as the number one seed.
There were three upsets in the tournament on the opening day. Seventeenth ranked Mobley upset Barton. Twenty-third ranked Cochise upset 10th seeded Collin and 18th ranked Walters State upset 15th ranked Casper.
In the Elite Eight round, the match-ups will include South Georgia Tech vs. 8th seeded Northwest Florida State and the winner of the 4th seeded Southern Idaho – 20th ranked New Mexico and 5th seeded Blinn College vs 21st ranked North Dakota on one side of the bracket. Second seeded Eastern Florida State will face 7th ranked Wabash Valley, and the winner of the 3rd ranked Trinity Valley – 14th McLennan game will play the winner of 6th ranked Jones College vs. 11th seeded Gulf Coast on the other half of the bracket.
The win over Moberly Community College was a struggle for the top ranked Lady Jets. Moberly jumped out to an early lead in the first quarter and were up by as many as five points. However, the Lady Jets rallied and pulled ahead 15 – 9 at the end of the first quarter.
The Lady Jets stretched their lead to 10 points in the second quarter but Moberly went on a nine-point scoring run the second quarter and outscored the Lady Jets 15 – 8 to pull ahead 24 – 23 at the half. A technical foul was called on South Georgia Tech at the end of the half and Moberly converted and pulled ahead early before the Lady Jets rallied in the 3rd quarter to outscore the Greyhounds 14 - 12 and capture the 37 – 36 lead at the end of three quarters.
South Georgia Tech settled down in the fourth quarter and outscored Moberly 17 – 13 to clinch the 54 – 49 victory and advance to the Elite Eight round of play.
“We will have to play better Saturday to win,” said Coach Frey. “At this level, if you have a bad game, you go home. We missed way too many layups and turned the ball over too much.” The Lady Jets only shot 38% from the field and only made three of seven three-point attempts in the 40-minute game. They were only 15 of 24 from the foul line.
Sophomore Alexia Dizeko was the top scorer for the Lady Jets with 19 points. She also had seven rebounds, three assists and a steal. Fanta Gassama and Susana Yepes were the only other Lady Jets in double figures. Fanta Gassama had 12 points and nine rebounds and Susanna Yepes came off the bench to score 10 points including two crucial three-point attempts. The Lady Jets only had three three-pointers.
Rounding out the scoring for the Lady Jets was Camryn James with nine points, Loes Rozing with three, and DeNae Williams with one point.
Keiori Lee was the top scorer for Moberly with a total of 15 points. She was the only player in double-figures for the Greyhounds.