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By Su Ann Bird

 

TUSCALOOSA, AL – The South Georgia Technical College Lady Jets dropped two decisions to NJCAA Division I nationally ranked teams in the Shelton State Classic over the weekend. Shelton State, ranked 20^th in the nation, defeated the Lady Jets 77 – 68 on the opening night of the tournament and then 19^th ranked Chipola captured a 62 – 54 decision over SGTC on Saturday.

“We took on two nationally ranked programs on the road on back to back nights and put ourselves in a position to win both games,” said SGTC Athletic Director and Lady Jets head coach Jason Carpenter. “I’m not satisfied with coming up short in both cases but the progress this team has made from the start of the season is undeniable.

The Lady Jets are 5 – 4 overall with four of their five losses to top 20 nationally ranked NJCAA teams. The Lady Jets lost to Gulf Coast State College, Shelton State, and twice to Chipola in the first half of the season.

In the Lady Jets 77 – 68 loss to Shelton State, the Lady Jets fell behind 28 – 21 at the end of the first quarter.  They rallied in the second quarter to cut the deficit to 42 – 37 at the half, but Shelton State came back in the third quarter to outscore the Lady Jets 13 – 9 and widen the lead to 55 – 46.  Both teams scored 22 points in the fourth quarter to close out the game, 77 – 68.

Sophomore Center Maeva Fotsa led the team in scoring in that match-up with 26 points and was the top rebounder with eight.  Freshman guard Mio Sakano and sophomore guard Vera Guannaydin added 14 and 13 points to close out the double digit scoring for the Lady Jets.  Sakano had five rebounds, five assists and three steals.  Gunaydin had four rebounds and three assists.

Sophomore guard Isabel Bueno and Greta Carollo, sophomore guard, both tossed in five points for the Lady Jets.  Maria Favero and Destiny Bishop closed out the scoring with three and two points respectively.  Carleigh Andrew was the top scorer for Shelton State with 25 points and Adriana Jones was next with 18.

In the second match-up of the Shelton State Classic, Chipola outscored the Lady Jets in every quarter but the second one to secure a 62 – 54 victory.  Chipola was up 18 – 13 at the end of the first quarter but the Lady Jets cut that deficit to 30 – 27 at the end of the first half.  Chipola widened that lead by outscoring the Lady jets 17 – 14 in the third period and 15 – 13 in the fourth quarter to take the 62 – 54 decision.

Vera Gunaydn was the leading scorer for the Lady Jets in that match-up with 14 points.  She was three of 10 from the three-point line.  Close behind her was Isabel Bueno with 12 points and Mio Sakano with 11 points to close out the double-digit scoring.

Enola Papin tossed in seven points for the Lady Jets and Maeva Fotsa contributed four points.  Destiny Bishop, Greta Carolla, Maria Diaz, and Maria Favero each added two points for SGTC.

The Lady Jets will take a few days off for the holiday break and then host Snow College at 6 p.m. on December 28^th in the Hangar. They will also host the Lady Jets Holiday Classic, December 29 – 31 featuring match-ups against the fourth-ranked Gulf Coast team at 6 p.m. on December 29^th and St. Petersburg College at 6 p.m. on December 30.  Other teams in the tournament include 7^th ranked Pensacola State, 20^th ranked Shelton State, Tallahassee Community College, Dayton State, and Snow College.  Games start at 12 noon on Friday, December 29 and continue until 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday.  Games on Sunday, December 31 will be held at 12 noon, 2 p.m. and 4 p.m.