SGTC Lady Jet Stephie Salumu earns GCAA Player of Week honors

December 18, 2024
Stephie Salumu, 13, was selected as the GCAA Player of the Week for Division I for the week of December 16, 2024.
Stephie Salumu, 13, was selected as the GCAA Player of the Week for Division I for the week of December 16, 2024.

   The South Georgia Technical College Lady Jets had their third player selected for the Georgia Collegiate Athletic Association (GCAA) Women’s Basketball Player of the Week honors this week.  Freshman guard Stephie Salumu from Sint-Niklaas, Belgium was named Player of the Week for December 16th following SGTC’s back to back wins in the Palm Beach Classic.

   Salumu is a 6’0” freshman guard from Belgium.  This is her first season at SGTC and she has helped lead the Lady Jets to a 7 – 3 start this season.  She has started in all 10 of the Lady Jets games since the 2024 – 2025 season opened.

   Salumu scored 27 points and 10 rebounds in the win over Palm Beach State College. She is currently averaging 10.7 points per game for the Lady Jets.  She has a total of 107 points and hits 67.7% of her field goal attempts to lead the conference.  She is 44 of 65.  She hit 60% of her free throws and makes one out of every six attempts from the three-point line.  She is currently the third leading scorer for the Lady Jets and ranked eighth in scoring in the GCAA women’s basketball Division 1 league.

   In addition to her shooting, she has pulled down a total of 81 rebounds this season, 25 offensively and 56 defensively.  She has 26 assists, 18 steals and 11 blocks.  She is the third Lady Jet to be named as a GCAA Basketball Player of the Week this season.

    Lady Jets Mariia Ignatchenko, a freshman center from Mykolaiv, Ukraine, was the first Lady Jet selected for this honor.  She was recognized for the week of November 11 after scoring 23 points and 12 rebounds for the Lady Jets in a win over Tallahassee State College in the Tallahassee State College Classic.

   Kaiya Carter, a freshman guard from Houston, TX, was the second Lady Jets selected.  She was named for the week of December 2, 2024 after scoring 18 points and 14 rebounds in a game against Southern Union State in the Pete Arrington Thanksgiving Classic.

     The Lady Jets will travel to Marianna, FL, on December 19 to take on the 11th nationally ranked Chipola team before returning home to host the Lady Jets Holiday Classic, December 28 – 31.  The Lady Jets will play St. Petersburg College on December 28 at 5 p.m. and then host Eastern Florida at 7 p.m. on December 29 and play Chipola College at 4 p.m. on December 31. 

   Other teams participating in the tournament include Chattanooga State, Shelton State, Northeast Mississippi, and Daytona State.  On Saturday, December 28th, SGTC has the only game against St. Petersburg.  On Sunday, December 29, play starts at 1 p.m. with St. Petersburg vs. Chattanooga State.  Chipola will play Shelton State at 3 p.m. followed by Dayton State and Northeast Mississippi at 5 p.m. and SGTC and Eastern Florida at 7 p.m.

   On Monday, December 30, Northeast Mississippi will play St. Petersburg at 1 p.m., Shelton State will play Eastern Florida at 3 p.m. and Dayton State and Chipola play at 5 p.m.  On Tuesday, December 31, Eastern Florida plays Northeast Mississippi at noon, Chattanooga State faces Shelton State at 2 p.m. and Chipola and SGTC finish up at 4 p.m.

    Shelton State is currently ranked 9th in the nation.  Chipola is ranked 11th and Eastern Florida is currently 23rd.  Shelton State is 9 – 2; Chiploa is 12 – 0, and Eastern Florida is 9 – 3.