Jets, Lady Jets coast to wins over Atlanta Metro

The top-ranked South Georgia Technical College Lady Jets coasted to an impressive 80 – 56 win over the Atlanta Metro College Lady Trailblazers in the first half of a Georgia Collegiate Athletic Association (GCAA) conference double-header Wednesday and then the Jets roared to a 100 – 74 victory over Atlanta Metro’s men in the second game.
The win over the Atlanta Metro College Trailblazers Wednesday allowed the South Georgia Technical College Jets to move back into second place in the GCAA Division I standings after South Georgia State College lost 107 – 85 to Georgia Highlands in a Valentine’s Day battle in Rome. The Jets are now 9 – 4 in the Conference and 16 – 10 overall while South Georgia State is 8 – 4 and 19 – 7. Georgia Highlands is currently in first place with a 10 – 1 record. Georgia Highlands would have to lose their last four conference games and South Georgia Tech would have to win its last three regular season games in order for the Jets to move into the first place spot and host the men’s end of the season tournament on March 9th and 10th.
The Lady Jets have already clinched the GCAA Division I women’s basketball regular season title and have earned the right to host the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Region XVII tournament semi-finals and finals on March 2nd and March 3rd. The winner of the NJCAA Region XVII women’s tournament will advance to a District J championship play-in game for the honor of advancing to the NJCAA National Tournament in Lubbock, Texas. The Lady Jets earned the right to go to the nationals for the fourth time in 2016 – 2017 and finished among the top 16 teams in the nation. South Georgia Technical College Athletic Director and Lady Jets head coach James Frey would like to see his team go back for the second consecutive time and the third time in four years.
“We are still playing up and down,” said Frey. “If we play up to our potential for a full 40-minutes we can play with anybody. We are just not there yet, but now we have a 10-day break before our next game and last regular season match-up against Albany Tech. We need to stay focused and work hard. Once the tournament starts everything else is in the past. You have to win to keep playing.”
Sophomore forward Esther Adenike continued to be the go to person for the Lady Jets in this match-up. She had a double-double on the night with 18 points and 14 rebounds. Three other Lady Jets joined her in double figures and two more had double-doubles. Sophomore guard Dakata Toney had 15 points and four assists and then sophomore forward Houltfat Mahouchiza had a double-double with 12 points and 16 rebounds and Bigue Sarr was in double-digits with 11 points and 11 rebounds.
Freshman guard Ricka Jackson added eight points, Sceret Ethridge scored seven points and had five rebounds, Alyssa Nieves tossed in four points, Cedeja James had three points and Aubry Maulden closed out the scoring with two points.
The Lady Jets scored first and never looked back. They were up 38 – 29 at the end of the first half and pulled ahead by as many as 27 points before taking the 80 – 56 victory.
The Jets also had a good night against the Atlanta Metro Trailblazers. Six members of the Jets squad scored in double figures and two posted double-doubles with double digits in scoring and rebounding.
Sophomore guard Rico Simmons and freshman forward Dominique Walker were tied for high scoring honors with 14 points each. Simmons had three rebounds, six assists and two steals. Walker had 11 rebounds. Sophomore forward Marquel Wiggins and freshman forward Adonis Green both added 12 points. Wiggins also had 12 rebounds and one steal. Freshman Sam Matice started for the Jets and came away with 11 points and eight rebounds. He also had a steal and a blocked shot. Freshman guard Durand Green also started for the Jets and came up with 10 points, two rebounds, and two assists.
Sophomore guard Mike Boone came off the bench to score eight points, Emeshuan Offord had seven points, Malik Wilson scored five points, Isaac LeCompte posted four points, DeVante Foster accounted for two points and Nemanja Jovanovic closed out the scoring with one point.
South Georgia Tech was up 50 – 32 at the half and were up by 29 points in the second half before capturing the 100 – 74 victory.
The Jets will host the third ranked South Georgia State College team in a match-up for control of the second place spot in the conference on Wednesday, February 21st at 7 p.m. Then the Jets and Lady Jets will travel to Albany on Saturday, February 24th to face Albany Tech in a conference double-header at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. That is the last regular season match-up for the Lady Jets but the Jets will host Gordon State College on February 28th at 7 p.m. to close out their regular season schedule.
As the number one seed, the Lady Jets will host the NJCAA Region XVII tournament on Friday, March 2nd and Saturday, March 3. The Lady Jets will play the fourth place team and the second and third place teams will face off on Friday with the two winners advancing to the finals on Saturday. Right now Central Georgia Tech and Georgia Highlands are tied for second place and Albany Tech is in fourth place. Both Georgia Highlands and Central Georgia Tech have three games remaining in the regular season.

Lady Jets Esther Adenike (24) is shown above. She had a double-double against Atlanta Metro with 18 points and 14 rebounds.