Nomination year: 2023

Nominated by: Joe Sims

Nomination Category: Athletes & Coaches

Sport: Basketball

Years Participated: 2002-2005

Career Summary:

Paulina (Herrmann) Bennett was a star basketball player from 2002 to 2005 playing on some the best Celina/Clay County High School basketball teams of all time under legendary Lady Bulldog coach Joe Sims.

Bennett was viewed as one of the best players in the district in her time, because she was a great post player with a knack for scoring few players have been blessed with.  Individually as a two-year starter, she scored 1,222 points and grabbed 453 rebounds during her career—numbers sure to have been higher if she hadn’t had a great class in front of her and had to wait her turn.

The Lady Dawg teams Bennett played on were some of the greatest in school history, with team records during her career being 30-5, 27-3, 26-10, and 18-13.  Her four-year record was 101-31 and those teams won three district championships (2002-04), two region championships (2003-04), two sub-states (2002, 2004), and played in two State Tournaments (2002, 2004).  The Lady Bulldogs also finished as the 2002 State Runners-up.

Bennett was honored with an All-Tri-Lakes Conference Freshman Team selection; All-Tri-Lakes Conference Honorable Mention her sophomore season; All-Tri-Lakes Conference 1st Team, District Tournament MVP, and Region All-Tournament Team her junior year; and All-Tri-Lakes Conference 1st Team and District All-Tournament Team selections her senior season.

Nominator comment:

“Pauli was a star on some of the best teams ever and she led her team in scoring her junior and senior seasons.

“When you look at her team’s records and what they accomplished, along with her individual numbers and awards, Pauli had a great career, and I feel she is deserving of induction into the Clay County Sports Hall of Fame.”