Sophomore guard Danielle Clark led the Jaguars with 14 points per game. (photo by Bill Roa)

by Wade Marbaugh

Four decades of women’s basketball at Georgia Perimeter College and its predecessor, DeKalb College, came to an end at Georgia Highlands College on Feb. 24.

After defeating Georgia Highlands 76-73 on the same court two weeks earlier, the 2014-15 Jaguars fell 65-58 to the Chargers in the quarterfinals of the Georgia Collegiate Athletic Association tournament. The Jaguars, who played four teams ranked among the nation’s top 20 teams, finished the season with a 15-16 record, 11-7 in the GCAA.

“Man, it’s been a ride. For a minute there I thought we might pull this thing out,” said head coach James Waldon. “They played hard—they gave it everything they had. It just wasn’t meant to be.”

Sophomore guard Danielle Clark drew a top honor for the Jaguars as she was named by the conference coaches to the All-GCAA Third Team. Clark led GPC in scoring with an average of 14 points per game, which ranked eighth among the conference’s top scorers. She shot an impressive 68 percent from the free throw line, also eighth in the league. Her season high was 32 points against Pensacola State College in the GPC Classic invitational tournament in November.

Clark, a Stone Mountain High School alumna, transferred to GPC after spending her freshman year playing at Mississippi Valley State University, an NCAA Division 1 school.

Sophomore forward Ty’Nika Johnson led the Jaguars in shooting, sinking 48.8 percent of her field goal attempts. Freshman guard Asia Vetter handed out 2.7 assists per game and sophomore center Taylor Boyd led in rebounds with 5.8 per outing. Raujua Terry, a freshman guard, added 9.4 points per game.

The peak of the 2014-15 season came three days earlier when GPC pulled off an exciting 88-76 victory over the eventual conference champion, South Georgia Technical College, after losing to the Jets earlier in the season.

Head coach James Waldon, right, and his assistants Frank Jones and Christina Schafer, left, guided the Jaguars in Waldon’s 17th season at the helm. (photo by Bill Roa)

Waldon ended an illustrious 17-year career at GPC with 287 wins and 205 losses. Under his leadership the Jaguars won the conference tournament championship seven times and attended the National Junior College Athletic Association tournament in Salina, Kansas, six times. His teams traveled to the national tournament in four consecutive seasons, from 2005 to 2008.

“As I look back, it’s been 17 great years,” Waldon said. “I’ve learned a lot; had a chance to work with a lot of great people and I think I’m one of the most blessed people on the face of the Earth.”

Assistant coach Christina Schafer also had a long career mentoring the Jaguars, and Frank Jones served as assistant for two years.

More on Jaguar sports, including game stories going back to 2007.