Top AA Andrew Jackson Favored To Repeat As AA Girl’s Basketball Champions

HSSR AA Girls Basketball Rankings - (As of Feb., 5 2025)

1. Andrew Jackson

2. Lake Marion

3.Kingstree

4.Clinton

5.Lake City

6. Fairfield Central

7.Saluda

8.Marion 

9.Hampton County

10.Burke

Top AA Andrew Jackson Favored To Repeat As AA Girl’s Basketball Champions

By Billy G. Baker

Publisher

Moncks Corner—The SCHSL AA girl’s 2024-25 state basketball championship game will take place on Saturday February, 8 inside the Florence Civic Center at noon, the same place the event was held a year ago.

Last year the Andrew Jackson High School Lady Volunteers defeated Landrum, 78-60 to earn the AA girls’ basketball champion ship.

Andrew Jackson is currently ranked number one by the HSSR as teams are preparing for the highly anticipated play-offs. AJA was aided in their big win a year ago when junior Ayona Alexander came back from missing 12 games with a bone in her foot to score 20 points and grab 8 rebounds in helping her team defeat Landrum for the state title.

After the big win Alexander told the HSSR,  “It feels good to be back on the court,” said Alexander, who finished the season averaging 18.6 points and 12.3 rebounds per game. “It was like 12 games I was out. It felt great when they told me I could play. I prayed; I prayed every night. I trusted God that I would get to come back for this.”

Alexander did not return to the AJ team for the 2024-25 season, but the SCBCA AA Player of the Year is back in 6-2 senior forward/center Tania Watkins is back. Watkins is currently 28.7 points and 8.2 rebounds along with 5.6 steals and three assists a game. While shooting 55 per cent from the field . Junior guard  Ni’Yonna Asbelle is also back and she is currently scoring 19.2 points and 5.6 rebounds a game while shooting 57 per cent from the field. Senior guard Emily McCall has also played a big role in the team’s success averaging 10.6 points, 2.1 rebounds and 3.2 steals a game. The only other player averaging 8 or more points a game is junior shooting guard Trinty Delly who is averaging 8.2 points, 3.2 steals and 2.8 assists a game.

Against region foes AJ has wins reflecting numbers like 95-16, 90-11, 104-8 and 101-32.

Head AJ coach Steven Fair is a graduate of the school. After last year’s win he put it all in perspective as he hopes for a repeat this season. It’s a very small town, but we’ve got big hearts,” Fair said of the Lancaster County town. “Any time any athletic team plays, they show up in big numbers.”

        “It means a lot to win this,” Watkins said. “Little kids look up to us. Everybody wanted to win, and we pulled it out. It means a lot.”

Right behind Andrew Jackson in the current AA HSSR ranking are: 2. Lake Marion, 3.Kingstree, 4.Clinton, 5.Lake City, 6. Fairfield Central, 7.Saluda, 8.Marion, 9. Hampton County, and 10. Burke.

Second ranked Lake Marion, head coached by Tequilla Allen, was 19-1 and 9-0 nearing the end of the regular season.

Lake Marion is led by two seniors, a junior and one freshman. The top scorer on the team is junior guard Zimarika Moorer at 11.6 points, 8.6 rebounds, 4.5 steals and 3.2 assists a game. Freshman guard Harmony McCaskill is a strong all-rookie candidate currently averaging 10.1 points and three steals a game.

Two other quality players for Lake Marion include senior leader Teonna Allen averaging 8.6 points, 5.9 rebounds and 4.4 steals a game. Rounding out the majority of the Lake Marion offensive production is senior Jimyria Green averaging 7.3 points and 4.3 steals a game. 

As a team lake Marion is playing excellent defense averaging 21 steals a game.

Third ranked Kingstree, head coached by James Price, had a huge 48-46 win over Mullins on Feb., 7^th to give them some confidence entering the AA play-offs.

Against the Aucs, Super Sophomore Kingstree forward Naydia Shaw poured in 26 points and grabbed 16 rebounds in the win. Junior Demia Murray contributed 9 points and six rebounds in the win.   

On the season Shaw is now averaging 19.1 points, 11.7 rebounds, 3.7 steals, and 2.9 steals a game. Mosely is at 12.2 points a game with 3.8 rebounds and 2.7 steals a game.

Clinton is an upper-state team coming on strong at the end of the season with an 18-5, 8-0 region record.

Head coach John Gardner’s Red Devils team is led by 5-9 senior forward Bryanna Belton at 9.1 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 2.8 steals a game. Junior shooting guard McKenzie Clark is at 8.5 points and junior guard Mylayja Thompson is contributing 6.8 points a game. Sophomore Kemaria Shelton is a 6-1 sophomore power forward averaging 5.5 points and 5.4 rebounds a game.