Friday evening was prime time for North Augusta High School's girls' basketball program, as the Lady Jackets stomped Region 5-AAAA rival Lexington to the tune of 45-20.

Jared Adamson, North Augusta's coach, was able to clear the bench and watch his squad improve its record to 9-6 overall and 5-1 in the region. Lexington dropped to 6-7 and 1-5.

Kayla West, in keeping with tradition, led all scorers.

She racked up 17 points, buoyed by teammate Tammy Bennon's 10-point game, and was honored at halftime of the boys' game for having recently reached the 1,000-point level in her career at North Augusta. She made the key bucket in her squad's Jan. 8 win at Orangeburg-Wilkinson and, by the end of the Lexington game, was at 1,033 points.

Adamson said his squad provided an excellent effort against Lexington, including "32 minutes of in-your-face North Augusta defense."

Lexington's high scorer was Sharia Davis with seven points. Each of her teammates managed two points or less.

North Augusta led 10-2 after the first quarter and had built a 26-5 advantage by halftime.

As of Tuesday afternoon, Adamson's bunch was in a three-way tie for first place in the region, with Dutch Fork and Irmo sharing the top perch.

"We don't have a lot of height, but we play hard and are continuing to get better, day in and day out," Adamson said. "We ... are not real tall, but if we play hard and defend, we'll be in every game, and we've been able to do that."

Heading into this week, North Augusta had a four-game winning streak, having won every game of 2010: 53-42 at Irmo, Jan. 5; 50-37 at Orangeburg-Wilkinson, Jan. 8; 54-23 at Richland Northeast, Jan. 12; and 45-20, Friday against Lexington. The squad played host to Dutch Fork Tuesday and will play Friday at Aiken.

As of this week's start, Dutch Fork was the only team to have beaten North Augusta so far, having won by a 57-43 tally Dec. 15.