Lady Jets move up to 4th in NJCAA Division I national poll

Published 7:26 pm Monday, February 1, 2021

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By Su Ann Bird

 

AMERICUS – The South Georgia Technical College (SGTC) Lady Jets climbed one position into 4th place in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division I women’s basketball national standings released February 1st, 2021.  The Lady Jets are currently 5 – 0 with two big wins over Shelton State, a top 10 team in the NJCAA national rankings at the time of the match-ups.

Trinity Valley Community College remained in the top position this week followed by Northwest Florida State College.  South Plains College had been in the number three spot but they lost this past week so Chipola College moved to 3rd in the nation and South Georgia Technical College went from fifth to fourth place.  South Pains College is now 5th with a 3 – 1 overall record. SGTC is the only team from Georgia listed in the NJCAA top 25 rankings.

In addition to the 4th place team ranking, SGTC had eight individual players that were recognized nationally for their individual efforts.  Sophomore center Femme Sikuzani, who stands at 6’ 5” from Goma, DRC, earned national recognition in five different categories.  She is currently tied for first place in free throw percentage shooting hitting with a 100% success rate.  She went to the foul line twice last week and sank both of them.  Her field goal shooting percentage also placed her 37th in the nation.  She is hitting 55% of her shots under the basket.

She also is ranked 17th in the nation in total rebounds with 41.   She is 19th in rebounds per game with an average of 10.8. and is ranked 39th in offensive rebounds per game with an average of 4.2.

Sophomore guard Veronica Charles was listed in two categories.  She is currently eighth in the nation in steals per game with 4.8 per outing and 32nd in the nation in total points with 64.  Her teammate, freshman guard Abby Solway, is tied with Charles in the 32nd position in total points with 64 and she is also currently ranked 48th in the nation in three-point percentage shooting.  She has hit 52.9 of her three point shots this season.

Sophomore shooting guard Imani McNeal from Locust Grove, GA, has scored a total of 61 points this season which allowed her to earn the 44th place ranking in the nation.   Two other sophomores, Hope Butera, 6’ 3” from Kigali, Rwanda, and Flore Ngasamputu, 6’ 2” from Kinshasa, DRC, are also listed nationally for their individual efforts this season. Butera is listed as 27th in the nation in total rebounds with 37 and Ngasamputu, 6’ 2” is currently 49th in free throw percentage shooting with a 92.3 success rate.

Another sophomore guard, Moe Shida, 5’ 7” from Hokkaido, Japan, was ranked nationally for assists.  She is currently 33rd in the nation with 5.0 assists per game.  Her teammate, freshman point guard Maikya Simmons is currently 30th in that category with an average of 5.2 assists per game.