Lady Jets remain at #16 in NJCAA National Poll

Published 2:01 pm Friday, January 24, 2020

From Staff Reports

 

AMERICUS – The South Georgia Technical College (SGTC) women’s basketball team kept their spot at #16 in this week’s National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) national rankings for the second week in a row.

The Lady Jets are 20-2 overall and 10-0 in the Georgia Collegiate Athletic Association (GCAA). The Lady Jets were ranked #24 in the pre-season national poll and moved up three spots to #21 prior to the Thanksgiving break. From Thanksgiving until December 31, 2019, the Lady Jets continued to win, which allowed them to move up as far as #16. They briefly fell to #17, but have since moved back to the #16 spot where they currently are now.

Gulf Coast State (FL) was ranked #1 in the country until they lost this past week and fell into the third place position with a 16-1 overall record. South Plains (TX) has now taken over the top spot at 20-0. They are followed by Chipola (FL) with a 19-1 performance. Trinity Valley (TX) and Tyler (TX) remained in the fourth and fifth place positions.

Western Nebraska, New Mexico, Shelton State (AL), Northwest Florida State and Hutchinson (KS) rounded out the top 10 spots. Jones (MS), Seward County (KS), Central Arizona, Florida Southwestern State and Wabash Valley (IL) are in the 11- 15 spots ahead of SGTC.

“All of the top teams in the national rankings are great. Any team can probably beat any other team on any given night. It will probably take a major upset for us to move up into the top 10. Right now, we have to concentrate on our game and continue to play well so that we can win our conference, the NJCAA Region XVII tournament and the District J game to earn a spot in the national tournament,” SGTC head coach James Frey said.

Four Lady Jets are helping to keep their team in the national rankings by standing out, based on their individual play on the court.  Freshman center Femme Sikuzani from the Congo is currently listed as the #5 ranked rebounder in the nation. Sikuzani has a total of 249 rebounds this season in her 22 games. The 6’ 5” center is averaging 11.3 rebounds per game, which is currently 13th overall in the nation. Sikuzani is also ranked 15th in the nation in offensive rebounds with an average of 4.9 per game and 23rd in the nation in defensive rebounds with 6.4 per outing. She is currently ranked 26th overall in field goal percentage shooting with a 57.6 percent success rate on her shots.

Three other members of the Lady Jets garnered national attention for their aggressive offensive and defensive skills. Sophomore transfer Shamari Tyson, who transferred in from Southeastern Illinois College, this season is ranked #22 in the nation in assists per game with an average of 5.2.

Sophomore Yasriyyah Wazeerund-Din is currently listed as 18th in the nation in steals with an average of 3.4 per game and she moved up to 25th in the nation in three-point percentage shooting. She is hitting 42.9 percent of her shots from beyond the arc.

Sophomore Anna McKendree was the fourth Lady Jet to earn recognition. McKendree was also listed in two different NJCAA individual stats this week. She is ranked 24th in the country in steals with an average of 3.3 per game and is also ranked 23rdth in three-point percentage shooting. She has hit 43.1 percent of her three-point attempts this season.

The Lady Jets and the Jets will play at home on Saturday, January 25 when they host Albany Technical College at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. in the Hangar on the Americus campus.