Chris Whitaker
ALBANY — The shutdown defense of South Georgia Tech was back in effect on Wednesday.
The Lady Jets held Albany Tech to 29 percent shooting on their way to a 68-50 win.
"We still have a couple of the same issues — offensive rebounds and free throws," said coach Brandan Harrell. "They're something we've got to get better at. It's going to be hard to beat good teams giving up that many offensive rebounds and not shooting well from the free-throw line."
SGTC (20-5, 6-1) made 6 of 11 free throws and allowed 20 offensive rebounds (had 25-20 edge). The Lady Jets held a 55-42 rebounding edge overall and forced 35 turnovers.
"We did a pretty good job defensively," said Harrell. "We're just giving them too many second-chance opportunities. A lot of those opportunities they didn't score, but good teams will. Reka (Ruttner) stepped up and had a big night for us, and I'm glad to see that. We need that down the stretch from her. We've got to rebound, rebound, rebound."
Ophelia McMath led all scorers with 15 points in 17 minutes of action while Ruttner scored 14, and Dee Smith added 12 with eight rebounds.
SGTC is back at home on Saturday against Atlanta Metro. Tip is 2 p.m. with the men to follow at 4 p.m.
Men
Albany Tech 64, SGTC 53
An 8-minute scoreless drought was enough to put the Jets out of reach as they have lost two in a row and 4 of 6.
The game was tied at 29 with four minutes left in the first half when the Titans responded with a 14-0 run during the drought.
"We can't score; we had the same trouble Monday night," said coach Steven Wright. "We hold Middle Georgia to 68 and them to 64, I'd think we have a chance to win."
Daley Strafford led the Jets (12-10, 4-4) with 13 points, and Markell Smith had 10 to go with seven rebounds and three steals. Rearkus McCrory was held to eight tonight after scoring seven on Monday.
"If he gets his average, we win," said Wright. "We missed a lot of short shots right around the bucket about two or three feet in. If we make one of those, we win the game."
The Jets were down 10 with 1:45 remaining before cutting it to one at the buzzer on a Strafford 3-pointer.
The Jets shot 41 percent and held the Titans to 36 percent. Albany Tech made five more free throws than SGTC and had 12 more points off 3-pointers.
Dominique Polite led the Titans with 16 points, and Wilbur Lake had 15.
Wright said missed shots around the basket and not getting to the free-throw line (8 of 14 on Wednesday) is not "the recipe for success."
"It's not a matter of effort, it's just a matter of being able to do things that we say we're going to do, and even more importantly, doing the things we're capable of doing.
"All is not lost. We've got six games left. If we figure out how to do those — whether it's me or a combination of all of us — we can still turn it around and make a run."
