The South Georgia Technical College Lady Jets finished out the Lady Jets Holiday Classic tournament and the 2025 year with an impressive 76 – 66 win over the Eastern Florida Titans in Tuesday’s final game in the Hangar. They are 5 – 10 on the season.
Earlier in the day, the National Junior College Athletic Association’s (NJCAA) 11th ranked Shelton State Lady Bucks upset the previously undefeated and number two team in the nation, Chipola College Lady Indians, 72 – 57. That win put Shelton State at 12 – 2 on the season and dropped Chipola to 14 – 1. In other action, Cleveland Community College took a 70 – 62 win over St. Petersburg.
In the final tournament action today, Wednesday, December 31st, Eastern Florida will match-up against Shelton State at 1 p.m. and Chipola College will take on Cleveland State at 3 p.m. The Lady Jets completed the tournament with a 2 – 1 record. Shelton State is currently the only unbeaten team remaining.
The Lady Jets opened up the Eastern Florida game determined to redeem themselves after the loss to Chipola on Monday. They jumped out to an 11 – 2 lead in the first five minutes and then stretched that to a 21 – 7 first quarter lead.
Eastern Florida came back and outscored the Lady Jets 17 -15 in the second quarter to go into the half down, 36 – 24. The Eastern Florida Titans came back in the third quarter and outscored the Lady Jets 23 – 20 to close the game to 56 – 47 going into the final quarter. The Lady Jets managed to hang on and clinch the 76 – 66 win and move to 5 – 10.
Sophomore guard Tana Bennett from Dallas, TX, led the Lady Jets in scoring with 26 points. She was four of five from the three-point line and four of six from the field. She also made six of her seven free throw attempts. Bennett led the Lady Jets in rebounds with 10 for a double-double night.
Freshman guard Ja’Niya Broome from Hamilton, GA, was close behind with 20 points and six rebounds. Those were the only two Lady Jets in double digits but Candice Ganga, a freshman point guard from Paris, France, added nine points and four assists. Jaidyn Elam from Pontiac, MI, accounted for eight points. Glory Kaine scored six points, Sarah Mellouk had three and Jada Jones, and Sephora Benth closed out the scoring with two points each.
Eastern Florida was led by Ofiri Papara with 23 points. Bruna DaSiliva added 16 points and Shadia LaraSantacruz and Grace Strickland closed out the double-digit scoring with 11 and 10 points each. Angelina Spence was the only other Titan to score and she had six points.
The Lady Jets have a short break and will return to the court on Wednesday, January 7th when they begin their conference season against Central Georgia Technical College. The Lady Jets open up the double-header at home at 5:30 p.m. and the Jets will also play their first conference game against Central Georgia Tech at 7:30 p.m. The Jets will travel to Niceville, FL, on Saturday, January 3rd to play Northwest Florida State College. The Jets are 4 – 9 and the Red Raiders are 15 – 1 and are ranked fifth nationally in the NJCAA poll.