From Staff Reports
AMERICUS — The Lady Jets haven’t cracked the top 25 yet this season, but they are No. 1 in the nation in one category: Scoring defense.
South Georgia Tech leads the nation at 48.2 points a game as three GJCAA teams are in the top 50, including Darton (24) and Middle Georgia (40).
Also making waves across the nation in scoring is Americus’ own Dee Smith. The 5-foot-10 sophomore sits 17th in the country at 18.4 points a game. She is averaging eight rebounds a game, more than three steals and 2.5 assists while shooting 46 percent from the floor.
“Dee was a preseason All-American so we were expecting a lot from her,” said coach Brandan Harrell, who added that he is pleased that she is producing on those expectations. “She is scoring, rebounding and moving the ball around.”
The defense has helped the Lady Jets out to an 18-4 record and 4-0 in conference play, good for first alongside MGC. They have won 11 of the last 12 entering tonight’s game at Darton.
“This is a pretty big deal, and I am very pleased for the team and for Dee,” said Harrell. “We made it into the top 10 in defense a couple of years ago and finished that season ranked 14th in defense nationally. We were very proud of that accomplishment, but now we have something even better.”
Harrell revealed that his team spends about 70 percent of its practice time on defense.
“The players take pride in consistently being able to hold their opponents to a low score,” he said. “The top defensive ranking is very important, and I don’t want to take anything away from our players. However, this season, our schedule has helped us with the ranking. So far we have only played four nationally-ranked teams and this time last year, we had played 12 nationally ranked teams.”
Harrell said that the real test for the defense will come against the Lady Cavaliers (13-8, 3-2). Dominique Gilbert is the GJCAA Player of the Week after averaging 21 points, 13 rebounds and 4.5 blocks in two games last week.
Gilbert leads the conference in scoring at 18.6 points a game, while Maratt Wright and Shaylia Jester come in at 15.8 and 10 a contest. Gilbert is third in rebounding at 11.5 a game.
Helping Smith out is Ophelia McMath, who is fourth in the conference in scoring (16.8) and fifth in rebounding (10.7)
“Darton has a good basketball team, and typically, we have not shot the ball well in their gymnasium,” said Harrell. “This will be a real test of our defense.”
Four opponents have scored more than 60 points this season against the Lady Jets, and three of those games were losses, including the last, a 78-65 defeat to Santa Fe (Fla.) in the Lady Jets Classic.
“We have done a good job offensively and defensively so far this season, but now we have to bear down because we have Darton College on Thursday and Middle Georgia College on Monday,” said Harrell. “Both of these teams are typically ranked high in the GJCAA rankings.”
