SGTC Jets, Lady Jets highlighted as GCAA Basketball Players of the Week

February 4, 2025
Aiden Fitzgerald, 20; Mio Sakano 30; and Enola Papin, 24; were the three Jets and Lady Jets players nominated for GCAA Player of the Week honors for the past two weeks.
Aiden Fitzgerald, 20; Mio Sakano 30; and Enola Papin, 24; were the three Jets and Lady Jets players nominated for GCAA Player of the Week honors for the past two weeks.

   The South Georgia Technical College Jets had their first player selected for the Georgia Collegiate Athletic Association (GCAA) Division 1 Men’s Basketball Player of the Week honors and the Lady Jets had their fifth and sixth different players recognized for the honor over the past two weeks.

   Aiden Fitzgerald, a 6’ 8” freshman forward from Perth, Australia, was the first Jet to gain the GCAA Player of the Week honors this season.  He averaged 19 points, 4.5 rebounds, one assist, and two steals in two conference games for the Jets over the past week.  The Jets are currently 3 – 3 in the GCAA and have won three of their last four conference games.

   Joining Fitzgerald with the GCAA Division I Basketball Player of the Week honors was Lady Jets sophomore point guard Mio Sakano.  Sakano, 5’ 9” from Yamanashi, Japan, scored 18 points and six assists in a win for the Lady Jets last week.  Both of the SGTC players were selected for the February 3rd honors.

   Another Lady Jet, sophomore guard Enola Papin, was the GCAAA Division 1 Women’s basketball player of the week for January 27.  She scored 16 points and four rebounds in a win for the Lady Jets that week.

    The Jets’ Aiden Fitzgerald is currently ranked 9th in the GCAA in three-point percentage shooting.  He is hitting 36.4% of his three-point attempts.  He has scored 243 points this season and has a 42.9 overall shooting percentage rate.  He has started 16 of the Jets 20 games and is 36 of 43 from the foul line for an 83.7 percent success rate.  He as a total of 93 rebounds, 16 assists and 26 steals.  He also has six blocked shots.

   Mio Sakano has started all 20 of the Lady Jets games this season and she has a total 284 points this season.  She makes 42.9 percent of her field goal attempts, 32.2 percent of her three-point shots and 79.5 of her attempted free throws.

   Sakano accounted for 99 rebounds so far this season along with 79 assists, which is the highest on the team.  She also has 34 steals and one blocked shot.  Her teammate, Enola Papin, is the third highest point producer for the Lady Jets.  She has 237 points so far this season.  She has also started all 20 of the Lady Jets games and is a 36.4 percent shooter from the field and a 76.7 percent free throw shooter.  She is the Lady Jets highest three-point percentage shooter hitting 36.2 of her attempts.  Papin also has a total of 114 rebounds, 36 assists, 28 steals and two blocks.

   The other four Lady Jets to earn the GCAA Division I women’s basketball player of the week honors include:  freshman guard Jamiah Gregory of Marietta, GA;  Stephie Salumu, a freshman guard from Belgium; Mariia Ignatchenko, a freshman center from Mykolaiv, Ukraine; and Kaiya Carter, a freshman guard from Houston, TX.