Lady Jets are District Champs; Focus Turns To Final Destination

The number one-ranked South Georgia Technical College Lady Jets captured the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Southeast District Conference title and earned their seventh straight trip to the NJCAA National Tournament with a 99 – 57 win over the Spartanburg Methodist College Lady Pioneers in the Hangar Saturday.

"This was awesome, but now the real work begins," said South Georgia Technical College Athletic Director and Lady Jets head coach James Frey after his team earned their seventh straight trip to the NJCAA National Tournament in Lubbock, TX March 22nd – 27th. "Our goal at the beginning of the season was to win the conference, the district tournament, and the southeast conference championship and earn the right to go to the national tournament. The fourth goal was to win the national tournament. We have accomplished the first three goals, but the biggest challenge is ahead of us as we face the best 24 teams in the nation to attempt to win the national title."

The Lady Jets are 32 – 1 overall this season and went undefeated in the conference with a 15 – 0 record with the number one ranking going into the tournament. Their only loss this season was to Gulf Coast State College in their opening game. This is only the third time in the Lady Jets history 19-year history to post an undefeated conference record.
Spartanburg Methodist was hoping to end the Lady Jets 31 – game winning streak. The Lady Pioneers came out strong and had the Lady Jets down by as many as six points early in the first quarter.

South Georgia Tech tied the game at 15 – 15 with 4:51 remaining in the first quarter, gave up one basket but tied the game at 17 – 17 with 4:07 showing on the clock in the first quarter. From that point on, the Lady Jets dominated Spartanburg Methodist and never looked back. They were up 29 – 21 at the end of the first quarter. They outscored the Lady Pioneers 32 – 14 in the second quarter to go up 61 – 35 at the half.

The Lady Jets pulled ahead by as many as 49 points before securing the 99 – 57 decision and earning the right to advance to the national tournament in Lubbock, TX.
Sophomore center Fanta Gassama led the Lady Jets in scoring with 17 points and seven rebounds. Sophomore point guard Da'Nae Williams had 16 points, sophomore guard Luana Leite was next with 15 and then Alexia Dizeko and Susana Yepes closed out the double digit scoring with 14 and 13 points. Luana Leite had 15, Da'Nae Williams and Alexia Dizeko both had 12 and Fanta Gassama had 11 at the end of the first half.

Heading into the NJCAA Tournament the Lady Jets garnered the number one seed and give them a bye in the first round of the NJCAA Division 1 National Tournament in Lubbock, Texas March 22 – 27 in Lubbock, Texas.