Jets and Lady Jets ready for 2017 – 2018 season

The South Georgia Technical College Jets and Lady Jets are preparing to open the 2017 – 2018 basketball season with a total of seven veteran players returning from successful 2016- 2017 seasons. SGTC Athletic Director and Lady Jets head coach James Frey and assistant coach Kezia Conyers are both back to lead the women’s team and Jets head coach Travis Garrett and assistant coach Chris Ballauer have returned to guide the men’s squad.
The SGTC Lady Jets captured their second consecutive Georgia Collegiate Athletic Association title (GCAA), the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Region XVII tournament championship, the NJCAA District J title, and a sweet sixteen finish in the NJCAA Division I National women’s basketball tournament last season. They are also enjoying an NJCAA 13th preseason national ranking for the 2017 – 2018 season with four impressive returning players.
The Jets finished last season with a seventh place ranking in the Georgia Collegiate Athletic Association but wound up as the NJCAA Region 17 tournament runner-ups behind Georgia Highlands which competed in the NJCAA National Tournament for the second year in a row.
The Lady Jets are returning Kanna Suzuki, the Georgia Collegiate Athletic Association Freshman of the Year from last season. Suzuki is a 5’ 2” guard from Hamamatsu, Japan. She averaged 9.1 points per game and shot 36.9% from the field and 36.7% from the three-point line. She also hit 69.8% of her foul shots. She played in all 35 of the Lady Jets games and started 32.
Joining Suzuki will be two more international players, Esther Adenike, a 6’ 2” forward from Lagos, Nigeria and Houlfat Mahouchiza, a 6’ 1” sophomore from Nice, France. The other veteran returning is Sceret Ethridge, a 6’ 2” sophomore center from Argyle, GA. Adenike also played in all 35 games. She averaged 7.4 points per game, shot 48.3% from the floor and 47.6% from the free throw line. She also averaged 9.5 rebounds per game and started 19 games.
Mahouchiza was the third returner to play in all 35 games last season. She started 27 games and averaged 6.9 points. She shot 44.2% from the field, 26.3% from the three-point line, and hit 68.1% of her free-throws. She also had 5.7 rebounds per game. Sceret Ethridge played in 34 games last season but only averaged 1.8 points per game. She did make 50% of her free throws and pulled down 2.5 rebounds.
These four players were instrumental in helping the Lady Jets finish the season with a 30 – 5 overall record. That record tied the best season ever recorded for the Jets or the Lady Jets teams from the 2013 – 2014 Lady Jets season.
Joining these veteran players in 2017 – 2018 are sophomores Dakata Toney, a 5’8 guard from Detroit, MI; and Kayla Holmes, a 5’5” sophomore guard from Stone Mountain that played with Eastern University. Five freshman were recruited for the 2017-2018 season. They include: Ricka Jackson, a 5’ 10” freshman forward from Ewa Beach, HI; Cedeja James, a 5’ 4” freshman guard from Teaneck, NJ; Fatou Pouye, a 6’ 0” freshman forward from Kaolack, Senegal; Alyssa Nieves, a 5’ 7” freshman from Tampa, FL; Aubrey Maulden, a 5’ 8” freshman guard from St. Simmons Island, GA; and Bigue Sarr, a 6’ 3” freshman center from Kaolack, Senegal.
“We have more height this season than we have had in past years,” said South Georgia Technical College Athletic Director and Lady Jets head coach James Frey. “Returning point guard Kanna Suzuki is out right now with an injury so we will have to count heavily on our freshman and transfer guards to help us out, but assistant coach Kenzia Conyers is doing an excellent job working with them.”
The Lady Jets are also counting heavily on the four sophomores to provide leadership and mold the other eight players into a team that can compete nationally as well as in the Georgia Collegiate Athletic Association conference. “We have some big shoes to fill from last season, but we have a great group of young ladies as well as talented athletes. We just need to see how hard they are willing to work to help us accomplish our goals of earning another trip to the National Tournament this season,” said Coach Frey.
Leading the Jets for the 2017 – 2018 season will be three returning players. Sophomore Rico Simmons is a 5’ 9” guard from Gordon, GA, who played for the Jets in the 2015 – 2016 season and was the Most Valuable Player for the group as a freshman. He was red shirted last season but has rejoined the team this season.
The other two returners are Mike Boone, a 6’ 2” guard from Charlotte, NC; and Marquel Wiggins, a 6’ 6” forward from Oglethorpe, Georgia. Boone played in 29 games last season and started in 24. He averaged 8.5 points per game. He shot 40.8% from the field, 36.9% from the three-point line and hit 56.1% of his foul shots. He also had 3.4 rebounds per game.
Marquel Wiggins played in 27 games and started twice. He averaged 6.3 points per game and shot 57.1% from the field. He was a 59.7% free throw shooter and averaged 2.9 rebounds per game.
The Jets played 33 games last season and averaged 77.8 points per game and 37.9 rebounds per game. They were 13 – 20 overall and 5 – 11 in the conference, however they excelled in the NJCAA Region XVII tournament to finish the tournament in second place.
Joining the three returning Jets this season are sophomores: DeVante Foster, a 6’ 9” forward from Stockbridge, GA; Darius Webster, a 6’ 6” forward from Manhattan, NY; Dawan Bass, a 6’ 4” guard from Baltimore, MD; Emeshuan Offord, a 6’ 1” guard from Albany, GA; and DeAndre Hamilton, a 6’ 8” forward from Albany, GA. The Jets also have seven freshmen this season. They include: Adonis Green, a 6’ 7” forward from Stockbridge, GA; Malik Wilson, a 6’ 3” wing from Sumter, SC; Durand Greene, a 5’ 9” guard from Brunswick; Da’Monte Greene, a 5’ 9” guard from Savannah, GA; Dominique Walker, a 6’ 7” freshman from Brunswick; Nemanja Jovanovic, a 6’ 7” power forward from Nish, Serbia; and Sam Matice, a 6’ 11” power forward from SK, Canada.
The two teams open the season in tournament play the first weekend in November. The Lady Jets will host the Lady Jets Tip-Off Classic on November 4th and 5th. The Lady Jets play Southern Union at 4 p.m. Saturday and Denmark Tech at 4 p.m. on Sunday.
They will travel to Albany Technical College on November 8th for the first conference game of the season. Tip-off is 5:30 p.m. Then the Lady Jets will host Atlanta metropolitan College on November 15th at 5:30 p.m. before traveling to Tampa Florida to face St. Petersburg College on November 18th and Hillsborough Community College on November 19th.
The Jets will travel to Harriman, TN to take on Cleveland State in the Roane State Classic on Friday at 4:30 p.m. CST and then face Roane State on Saturday, November 4th at 5:30 p.m. CST.
The Jets then travel to Tallahassee, FL for the TCC Veterans Classic on November 10th and 11th to play Eastern Florida and Tallahassee Community College before returning home to host the Region 17/10 Bash in the Hangar on November 17th and 18th. The Jets will play Louisburg on November 17th at 7:30 p.m. and Cape Fear on November 18th.