Paul Knox girls take home county title over rival NAMS

Paul Knox and North Augusta middle schools faced each other three times in the 2011-12 in girls' basketball, and Paul Knox got the final "W," bagging the Aiken County title Thursday evening by dumping North Augusta 29-17 in the title game.

Alli Bell, scoring a game-best total of nine points, led the Paul Knox charge, as her squad (13-2) leapt to a 13-0 lead. North Augusta's first point came when Genesis Stokes hit a free throw with 2:49 left in the second quarter. Kentasia Trimier, with seven points, wound up as North Augusta's top scorer.

Cheryl Morris, Paul Knox's coach, noted that her squad's two losses were by a combined total of three points.

As for the title game, she said, "We fine-tuned our press a little bit ... and ... really worked on our defense, to try to keep them out of the lane."

She said she expects to have four of this season's players back on board for the 2012-13 season.

"We had a good season. It was a good group of girls. They had great attitudes and worked hard and just got better and better as we went along."

North Augusta had advanced to the title game by way of a 24-22 Tuesday win over Aiken Middle, with Aiken Middle as the host team. Trimier and Caroline Robbins led the Lady Yellow Jackets' charge in that game, scoring seven points each.

Kenny Brown, North Augusta's coach, noted that his squad wound up with a record of 13-2, having lost only to Paul Knox. This year's team, he said, is particularly loaded with eighth-graders, but the prospects are good in terms of seventh-graders who are on track to return for 2012-13.