SGTC Lady Jets open season with back to back wins
St. Petersburg, FL – The South Georgia Technical College Lady Jets opened the 2024 – 2025 season with back-to-back wins over the weekend during the St. Petersburg Classic Tournament in St. Petersburg, FL. The Lady Jets opened with a 72 – 58 win over Miami Dade College on Friday and then followed up with a 67 – 61 victory against St. Petersburg College on Saturday to move to 2 – 0 on the young season.
The Lady Jets took a commanding 27 – 9 lead against Miami Dade College in the first quarter and even though the Sharks put together a good second and fourth quarter effort, that 21-point advantage from the first quarter was enough to give them the victory.
South Georgia Tech was up 39 – 25 at the half. The Lady Jets outscored Miami-Dade 23 – 15 in the third quarter and even though Miami-Dade rallied in the fourth quarter to put up 18 points to SGTC’s 10, the final buzzer sounded with the Lady Jets ahead 72 – 58 for the win.
Sophomore guard Enola Papin from Saint Etienne, France, led the Lady Jets with 23 points, five rebounds and one assist. Freshman guard Stephie Salumu from Sint-Niklaas, Belgium, wound up with 12 points and seven rebounds, while sophomore point guard Mio Sakano from Yamanashi, Japan, closed out the double-digit scoring for the Lady Jets with 11 points, eight rebounds, and 11 assists.
Rounding out the scoring for the Lady Jets was Jamiah Gregory of Marietta, GA, with nine points, freshman center Mariia Ignatchenko from Mykolaiv, Ukraine with eight points, six rebounds and one assist; and then Kayla Carter, Cheyenne Preston and Dully Silva closed out the scoring with four, three, and two points respectively.
After that win, the Lady Jets faced St. Petersburg College on Saturday and clinched their second win, 67 – 61. In this six-point victory, the Lady Jets fell behind 14 – 13 at the end of the first quarter. A strong second quarter allowed them to take a 34 – 30 lead at the half. St. Petersburg cut the deficit to three points after 30-minutes of play in a 48 – 45 battle. The Lady Jets outscored St. Petersburg 19 – 15 in the final quarter to clinch the 67 – 61 win.
Freshman guard Jamiah Gregory led the Lady Jets with 24 points, six rebounds, one steal, and one blocked shot. She was followed by sophomore Mio Sakano who wound up with 13 points, seven rebounds, five assists and one steal on the day.
Enola Papin tossed in nine points, Stephie Salumu and Dully Siva had six points each, Kalya Carter scored five points and then Mariia Ignatchenko and Cheyenne Preston closed out the scoring with three and one points respectively.
The Lady Jets will travel back to Florida on November 8 and 9 for the Tallahassee Community College Classic. They face Eastern Florida State College at 5 p.m. Friday and Tallahassee Community College at 2 p.m. on Saturday.