Lady Jets take GCAA DI Championship 65-63

Déjà Vue is French and it literally means all ready seen or already lived through. 

As the GCAA Women's DI Basketball Championship game wound down to its' final seconds last Saturday, I'm sure that I wasn't the only person at The Hanger on the campus of South Georgia Technical College that had this same feeling. Again it was what one would hope for in a championship game, and this one also didn't disappoint. 

Georgia Highlands had one last chance to steal a win over top seed South Georgia Tech and advance to the NJCAA District Tournament. Down by one point with 3.5 seconds left the Lady Chargers had what seemed to be enough time, but a stingy South Georgia Tech defense put on enough pressure to thwart a miracle for the second year in a row.  The Lady Chargers were looking at the basket with an open shot only to have the buzzer go off with the ball still in the hands of the Lady Chargers player and thus seal the victory for the Lady Jets with a 65-63 victory. 

Sixteenth ranked SGTC (28-4/13-1) trailed GHC (19-14/ 12-2) after the first quarter of play. The second quarter saw several lead changes and both teams went into intermission tied at 25-25. The second half action was back and forth and a flurry of 4 consecutive 3-point shots by Kanna Suzuki, Marina Balaguer and Shaineequah Fluellyn propelled the Lady Jets to a lead. Fluellyn lead all scorers with 32 points. The Lady Jets held on to take this years' conference title. 

The Lady Jets host Denmark Tech this Saturday at 2 pm  in Americus to determine the district champion. With a win the Lady Jets will secure a trip to the NJCAA national tournament in two weeks in Lubbock, Texas. 

Three of the past four years have come down to the final seconds between these two teams. In 14' SGTC won 59-58. Last year the SGTC lost on a last second shot 65-63. This year the Lady Jets won by the same score. 

To borrow a line from the late, great philosopher Yogi Berra ...It truly was Déjà Vue all over again.