Jets and Lady Jets sweep Central Georgia Tech

The top ranked South Georgia Technical College Lady Jets overpowered Central Georgia Tech’s Lady Titans 113 – 33 in a Georgia Collegiate Athletic Association (GCAA) conference doubleheader. The Jets defeated the Titans in the second half of the double-header 80 – 73 in overtime for a complete sweep.
This was a big conference win for both the Jets and Lady Jets. The win allowed the Lady Jets to remain in sole possession of first place in the GCAA with an 8 – 1 record. They are 17 – 6 overall. East Georgia (7 – 2) is currently in second place followed by Albany Tech (5 – 3), Central Georgia Tech (2- 6), Andrew College (1-5), and Southern Crescent Tech (0 – 6).
The overtime victory by the Jets allowed them to move into 3rd place in the GCAA behind South Georgia State (8 – 1), and Albany Tech (5 – 2). The Jets are 6 – 3 in the conference and 8 – 15 overall. This was their fourth consecutive conference win and their fifth in the past six games. East Georgia (6- 4) is currently in fourth place followed by Georgia Highlands (5 – 4), Gordon (4 – 5), Central Georgia Tech (3 – 6), Southern Crescent Tech (2 – 7), and Andrew College (1 – 8).
“I am so proud of these guys,” said South Georgia Technical College Jets head coach Chris Ballauer. “It’s been a tough season, but these guys have stayed together and kept working hard. And it’s starting to come together.”
SGTC Athletic Director and Lady Jets head coach Jason Carpenter felt the same way about the Lady Jets. “This was a solid performance on both sides of the ball for us, but I was particularly pleased with the consistency of the defensive effort throughout the game. We got great minutes from our bench, which is vital for success this time of the year.” Carpenter added that his team is continuing to improve each game and he believes that they have not reached their peak yet.
The Lady Jets defense held Central Georgia to single digits in each quarter but the fourth. They were up 61 – 14 at the half and ended the game with an 80-point advantage. This was the second consecutive 100 plus point game for the Lady Jets and their fourth in the last seven games.
Five Lady Jets were in double digits with sophomore Enola Papin leading the way with 20 points. She hit four three-point attempts and was perfect from the two-point area hitting four for four. She was paced by freshman Stephie Salumu who contributed 19 points and pulled down 17 rebounds for an impressive double-double night. Freshman Jamiah Gregory added 15 points, freshman Kaiya Carter posted 14 and then Cheyenne Preston came away with 10 points to close out the double-digit scoring.
Mio Sakano, Mariia Ignatchenko, and Maria Favero all had eight points, Duilly Silva contributed six, and Hayda Toro closed out the scoring with five points.
The Jets looked like they might run away with an easy win in the second half of the double-header when they went into half-time with a 15-point advantage, 44 – 29. But Central Georgia Tech came out of the locker room and held the Jets scoreless for almost five minutes to cut that deficit to three points, 44 – 41. The two teams continued to swap baskets until Central finally captured the lead 63 – 62 in the final three minutes. They stretched that lead to four points with 2:25 remaining but then the Jets were able to tie the game at 69 – 69 by the final buzzer. Jalexs Ewing hit a layup with 6.9 seconds remaining for the tying basket. Central got off another shot but the regulation portion of the game ended at 69 – 69.
South Georgia Tech outscored Central 11 – 4 in the five-minute overtime period behind the strong shooting of Dwight Brown, Jordon Dickson and Jalexs Ewing to capture the victory, 80 -73.
Freshman guard Jalexs Ewing was the leading scorer for the Jets with 19 points. Aiden Fitzgerald accounted for 13 points and then Hendrens Bartelus, and Matija Vucic both contributed 10 points. Bartelus also led the team in rebounds with 12.
Joshua Langefels came away with nine points, Dwight Brown and Jordan Dickson had eight each and then Illich Yacaman closed out the scoring with three points.
The Jets and Lady Jets will travel to Swainsboro on Saturday, February 15 for another conference double-header. They will take on East Georgia State College at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. East Georgia is the only team that defeated South Georgia Tech’s Lady Jets in the conference this season.
“We expect to get East Georgia’s best on Saturday,” said Coach Carpenter. “We will need to bring ours if we are going to remain atop the conference and position ourselves as the host of the conference tournament.”
The Jets also have a lot riding on the outcome Saturday. “This is a crucial game for us,” said Jets head coach Chris Ballauer. “For us to have any chance to win the conference, we have to win or steal at least four games on the road. I expect this to be a hard-fought game.”
The Lady Jets split with East Georgia so far this season. The lost 84 – 80 in Americus in January and then bounced back and beat them in early February, 71 – 50. The Jets won 89 – 61 in their first match-up with East Georgia in Americus but this is a must-win road game for the Jets to remain in contention for the top spot.
Following the games Saturday, the Jets will travel to Waycross to face the top-ranked South Georgia State team at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, February 19th and then travel to Andrew College on Saturday, February 22 for a 3 p.m. game. The Lady Jets are also on the road. They travel to Griffin to play Southern Crescent Tech at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, February 19th and then to Andrew College on Saturday, February 22 for the 1 p.m. game as part of a double-header.