Freshman point guard Candice Ganga from Paris, France, scored four points in the final minute and a half to allow the South Georgia Technical College Lady Jets overcome a 63 – 64 deficit and secure a 67 – 64 victory over the St. Petersburg Titans in the Lady Jets Holiday Classic Sunday night.
The win stopped a four-game losing streak for the Lady Jets, which are now 4 – 9 on the season. St. Petersburg is 3 – 8. The Lady Jets will have their work cut out for them tonight as they face the Chipola College Lady Indians, the number two team in the National Junior College Athletic Association, at 8 p.m.
The Lady Jets Holiday Tournament action begins again at 4 p.m. Monday, December 29th with St. Petersburg taking on the 11th ranked Shelton State Lady Bucks. Eastern Florida will play Cleveland Community College at 6 p.m., followed by the Lady Jets and Chipola at 8 p.m.
Action will resume on Tuesday, December 30th at 3 p.m. with Cleveland Community College facing St. Petersburg followed by Shelton State vs. Chipola College at 5 p.m. and the Lady Jets facing Eastern Florida at 7 p.m.. The tournament will end on Wednesday, December 31st with Eastern Florida and Shelton State playing at 1 p.m. and Chipola College and Cleveland Community playing at 3 p.m.
In the game Sunday night, the Lady Jets led for most of the first half and were up by as many as 13 points (31 – 18) in the second quarter before St. Petersburg came back to pull within nine points at the half, 36 – 27.
A very strong third quarter performance by the St. Petersburg Lady Titans had them trailing by only three points, 52 – 49, going into the fourth quarter. The Lady Titans closed the gap to one point, 56 – 55, with 8:09 remaining. The Lady Jets stretched that lead to five points, 60 – 55 with 6:16 remaining but St. Petersburg closed the gap to one point again, 60 – 59 with 4:58 remaining.
Another basket with 4:07 on the clock allowed the Lady Titans to go ahead 60 - 61. The Lady Jets tied the game at 63 – 63 with 2:54 remaining and after falling behind again, came back and tied the game at 64 – 64 with 1:39 remaining.
During that last minute and a half, SGTC’s Candice Ganga was the only player to score and she posted four points. She hit one of two free throw attempts to tie the game at 64 – 64 and then scored on a layup to let the Lady Jet pull ahead 66 – 64. She hit one of two more free throw attempts with 10.9 seconds remaining to let the Lady Jets take the 67 – 64 victory.
Sophomore guard Taja Bennett from Dallas, TX, and freshman guard Ja’Niya Broome from Hamilton, GA, led the Lady Jets in scoring with 18 points each. Candice Ganga was the only other Lady Jet in double-digits and she had 14 points. Jaidyn Elam added eight points, Jada Jones had five and Glory Kaine closed out the scoring with four points. Kaine led the team in rebounds with 11.
St. Petersburg had three players in double-digits. Catherine Guillaume led the team with 16 points followed by Kali Harris with 12 and Heaven Sanders with 10 points. Kali Harris was also the leading rebounder with 12 for a double-double night.