2 weeks Ago
NORTH AUGUSTA 57, AIKEN 25 NORTH AUGUSTA -- North Augusta girls' basketball came back from a close opening quarter to eliminate Aiken in the second round of the Class AAAA playoffs on Feb. 21. It was the third meeting between the two Region 4-AAAA rivals this season and a third win for the Jackets after they regrouped at halftime to hold the Hornets to just 12 points in the second half.
“I just think Aiken did a great job,” said North Augusta head coach Al Young. “They're prepared to play hard and gave us everything, everything we could stand. And I'm just glad we were able to get out of this game winning.
This kind of shows we have to go back to the drawing board and make sure that we don't take anything for granted and go back and work and get better.” While North Augusta took a 10-5 lead late in the opening quarter, Aiken landed a free throw and another two points to get within two points of the lead to start the second. The Hornets backed it up with a 3 out of the gate in the next period to take their first and only lead of the night at 11-10.
After that 3-pointer, the Jackets only allowed Aiken to score two more points before halftime after responding with 18 points of their own. Twelve of those points came from the hands of Ashley Walker, who led the team at the end of the night with 18 points total. Once they regrouped at halftime, the Jackets continued to make a statement against the Hornets in the third.
“Just basically we had to settle down and play,” Young said. “I mean we were all over the place. We weren’t doing anything right and didn’t think we were focused.
Just get back to basic, fundamental stuff and do what we’re capable of doing and play hard.” North Augusta outscored Aiken 24-4 out of the break as the team continued to get traction as every player contributed to the scoring surge. With several players who can shoot the ball, including standout Celena Grant and Messiah Williams, the Jackets have continued to keep things fresh on offense throughout the postseason.
Young said teamwork has been a pillar of the team as it works to improve throughout the postseason. “That's something we stress,” he said. “We think it's important that we play as a team.
We think we have good enough players that we can do that. And so we concentrate and we talk about sharing the basketball. The more you give it up, the more you get it back.
And we just hope that we will continue to play together. We think when we're doing that, we're at our best.” The final quarter was more of a defensive battle as the Jackets let off the gas offensively after putting 35 points between them and the Hornets.
It was the only period where Aiken outscored North Augusta in the final eight minutes, 8-5. However, even with the late game scoring, it was not enough to catch up with the dominant Jackets as they punched their ticket to the third round where they’ll face another region foe in Gray Collegiate Academy. It will be their final home game, win or lose.
“It’s always good to be home,” Young said. “The main thing is that we’ve got to make sure that we're taking care of stuff on the court. And we're preparing ourselves and getting ourselves ready for a good, tough game.
” The War Eagles came through on top in a close 42-39 battle against Wilson to meet the Jackets for a third time this season. While they held their own against North Augusta in their first meeting, the Jackets beat them comfortably the second time. Young said he hopes they will learn from this game as they prepare for another region rematch on Feb.
26. “I hope there's better games left,” he said. “I hope tonight was not the better game.
I’m just hoping that we are, we will continue to get better.”.
