Lady Jet take 5th straight title; Attention Turns To District Game

Lady Jets win GCAA Championship; Focus now set on Southeast District title.

Rome, GA 

In true rivalry fashion, Saturday's championship game was a game for the ages with Georgia Highlands and South Georgia Tech taking this game to overtime. The Lady Jets defeat the Lady Chargers 80-71 capturing the GCAA title.

Saturday's title marks the seventh in the past eight years for the Lady Jets. SGTC hosts Spartanburg Methodist for the Southeast District title this Saturday at 1pm. And if they can get past the Lady Pioneers then they can turn their full attention on the NJCAA National Tournament and Lubbock TX.

The Lady Jets came into the tournament still receiving an opening round bye, but the number one seed went to Georgia Highlands as they defeated the Lady Jets in two of their three regular season matchups this year. In the first semifinal GHC ended the season for Central Georgia Tech 75-47 moving the Lady Chargers to the title game. The second game the Lady Jets played just well enough to hold off the Lady Bobcats of East Georgia 63-60 setting up the title game with two teams with 20 plus wins during the season.

Championship Saturday started out with an intensity of what we have seen between these two teams over the years as SGTC took a 5 point first quarter lead 22-17. GHC returned the favor in the second quarter outscoring the Lady Jets 22-18 and taking a 35-34 lead in halftime. The third quarter was the Lady Jets as they outscored the Lady Chargers by a 19-12 margin and leading by six, 53-47 heading into the last quarter. GHC overcame the six point deficit and took the lead late only to have SGTC hit a three-point shot in the last minute of play to send the game into overtime.

In OT the Lady Jets came out forcing every possession, running off ten straight points and taking an 80-71 win. Femme Sikuzani led all scorers with 21 points, Veronica Charles added 18, Imani McNeal 11points and Niya McGuire had 10. GCAA Player and Freshman of the Year Jashanti Simmons led the Chargers with 17 points and Jada Alston also contributed 17 points. Runner-up Georgia Highlands is looking for an at-large bid to the national tournament, and deservedly so with a 20-3 season record.

Next step for the Lady Jets is familiar territory as they will face Spartanburg Methodist for the fourth straight year and this time hosting the Southeast District Championship.   Last year the Lady Jets soundly defeated SMC 85-65. SMC comes into Saturday's game with a 14-5 overall record.  A win and the Lady Jets will move to a 22-3 record and set their sights on the national tournament.