South Georgia Technical College Lady Jets move up to 14th nationally

   The South Georgia Technical College Lady Jets climbed to the 14^th spot, their highest this season, in the 2020 National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) women’s basketball national rankings last poll of the season prior to the NJCAA national tournament in Lubbock Texas, March 17^th – 21^st.

   The Lady Jets are currently 29 – 2 overall and captured the Georgia Collegiate Athletic Association (GCAA) regular season title with a perfect 17 – 0 conference record.  The Lady Jets also captured the NJCAA Region XVII Tournament title this past weekend with an impressive 69 – 63 come from behind win over Georgia Highlands.  This was the Lady Jets fourth consecutive NJCAA Region XVII Tournament Championship and the fifth consecutive year that they came away with the GCAA regular season conference title.

   The Lady Jets will now advance to Spartanburg, South Carolina, to face Spartanburg Methodist College in the NJCAA District J game on Saturday, March 7^th at 1 p.m. and possibly return to the NJCAA national tournament for the fourth consecutive time and sixth time in seven years. Sixteen District winners will receive an automatic spot in the national tournament with an additional eight at-large bids for the National Tournament in Lubbock, Texas, March 17^th – 21^st. Seeding for the national tournament will be held on March 9^th. 

    The Lady Jets were ranked 24^th in the pre-season national poll, then moved up three spots into 21^st place prior to the Thanksgiving break.  They climbed to 19^th place, before rising another two spots into 17^th.  They rose again into the 16^th position at the end of the 2019 year.  But a loss to Shelton State dropped them into 17^th position in the first poll of 2020.  They climbed back into 16^th place and remained there for four consecutive weeks.  This past week saw them advance to the 15^th position and they were able to hold steady in that ranking for the week of February 17^th.  In the final poll, they moved to their highest spot this season at 14^th.

   Even though South Georgia Technical College was able to move up a notch in the national rankings this week, the top six teams held steady.  Trinity Valley, TX, remained in first place with a 27 – 1 record.  Western Nebraska was second with a 26 – 1 performance and South Plains, Texas, came in third with a 27 – 1 record.  Shelton State is fourth at 25 – 2 and Northwest Florida State remained in fifth place with a 24 – 4 record.

   Gulf Coast State is 21 – 4 and ranked sixth in the nation followed by Central Arizaon, 26 – 3; New Mexico, 19 – 7; Hutchinson, KS, 27 – 3; and Jones, MS, 19 – 3.  Chipola, FL was 11^th with a 21 – 7 record and they were followed by Forida SouthWestern State with a 24 – 6 record.  Wabash Valley, IL is currently 13^th and South Georgia Tech moved into 14^th, followed by Casper, WY at 26 – 3.

   South Georgia Technical College is still the only Georgia College in the NJCAA Total 25 national rankings.

    Four 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 into third place in the nation in three-point percentage shooting.  She is hitting 47.5 percent of her three point attempts.  Tyson is also ranked in two other categories.  She is 14^th in the nation in assists per game with an average of 5.6 and ranked 34th in steals with an average of three per game.

   Her teammate, Yasriyyah Wazeerund-Din is 5^th place in the nation in three-point field goal success.  She is hitting 45.8 percent of her attempts at that range.  She is also ranked 16^th in the nation in steals with 3.3 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 342 rebounds this season in her 30 games. The 6’ 5” center is also averaging a 11 rebounds per game which is currently 13^th overall in the nation. 

   She is currently listed as 8^th in the nation in offensive rebounds with an average of five per game and 41^st in the nation in defensive rebounds with six per outing.  And she is 37^th overall in field goal percentage shooting with a 54.7 percent success rate on her shots. She is currently in 49^th place in blocks per game with a 1.5 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 9^th in the nation in steals with an average of 3.5 per game and she was also listed as 14^th in three-point percentage shooting.  She has hit 42.2 percent of her three-point attempts this season.