SSU Staff Members Leave
Within the past few months, Savannah State has lost three members of their athletics staff who have go on to other jobs.
Kendall Harris, who worked as academic advisor, left in November 2019 for a similar position at Stony Brook which is located in New York.
Harris, who earned his undergraduate and graduate degrees from Delaware State, worked at SSU for less than two years.
Manrey Saint- Amour, who was an assistant football coach for the Tigers, recently left SSU to become a graduate assistant at Florida State.
Saint-Amour spent the 2019 football season at Savannah State where he helped the Tigers to their first winning record since 1998. As an offensive line coach, he mentored a group that only gave up four sacks during the season while averaging 307.6 yards of offense per game. Saint- Amour earned his bachelor’s degree from Georgia Southern and has a master’s degree from Concordia Ann Arbor.
Bria Burrows, who served as the athletics secretary, has also left. A former SSU tennis player, Burrows recently received her Masters of Public Administration degree from Savannah State.
Davis Receives Degree
Shabari Davis was one of 25 student-athletes at Southeast Missouri State to receive their degree on December 14 at the Show Me Center. Over 700 students– 581 undergraduates, 113 master’s degree candidates and eight specialist candidates —participated in SEMO’s fall commencement ceremonies.
Davis, who was a member of the Redhawks’ football team, majored in General Studies.
During the 2019 season, Davis helped SEMO make the FCS playoffs and finish the year with a 9-4 record. Davis played in all 13 games and had 25 tackles and one interception. The former Groves’ High standout also averaged 13.1 yards in punt returns and 19 yards on kick returns.
SSU Women Defeat Mariners
The Savannah State women’s basketball team shook off the rust from the Christmas holidays and started the 2020 portion of their schedule with a 88- 80 win over the College of Coastal Georgia in a game played at Tiger Arena on January 6.
Savannah State led by 21 with 9:28 remaining in the third quarter before the Mariners rallied to slice their deficit to 69-66 with 7:04 left in the game. SSU responded with a 13-5 run to go ahead by 11 and basically put the game away.
The contest attracted local high school coaches such as Jackie Hamilton (Calvary Day), Georgie Johnson (Savannah High) and Brandon Lindsey (Johnson).
Le’Andrea Gillis scored a career-high 31 points and had10 rebounds for SSU while Ta’Kyla Austin had 20 points, seven rebounds, five assists and four steals. Azhana Maxwell contributed 19 points and Alexus Bryant had 10 rebounds.
The game was a homecoming for Savannah natives and former Calvary Day players Quira and Bryah Porter. Quira played 29 minutes and finished with 15 points and five rebounds while her sister Bryah played six minutes and had three rebounds.
On Jan. 11, the Lady Tigers fell to 2-4 in SIAC play after a 69-68 overtime road loss at Lane in Jackson, Tennessee.
SSU trailed 28-25 at the half but started the fourth quarter with a 44- 42 edge. The Lady Tigers trailed by as many as nine in the fourth quarter and by seven with 1:34 left before ending regulation with a 3-pointer by Gillis and layups by Bryant and newcomer Autumn Westmoreland to force overtime. In the extra period, SSU was down 69-65 with 48 seconds left. A 3-pointer by Maxwell pulled the Lady Tigers within two with five seconds left. SSU had a chance to force a second overtime period but Gillis could only make one of two free throw attempts.
Gillis ended the game with 20 points and seven rebounds, Austin had 13 points and nine rebounds, Maxwell scored 12 points and Bryant had 12 rebounds.
SSU travels to Morris for their final non-conference game of the year on Jan. 16 and will play at Fort Valley State on Jan. 18.