By CURTIS ROCKWELL

A pair of prep basketball standouts in the “Southern Six” have picked up a very special honor.

Pascagoula’s Dorian McMillian and Harrison Central’s Anaisha Carriere both were selected to the prestigious “Dandy Dozen” squads as named by The Clarion-Ledger of Jackson Newspaper this week. McMillian was selected as one of the top 12 boys players in the state and Carriere was picked as one of the top dozen girls players in the state.

Both players have guided their respective teams to impressive starts to the current campaigns on the hardwood. McMillian and his Panthers sit at 8-1 and are on an eight-game win streak entering Tuesday night’s Region 4-6A home game against visiting George County, while Carriere and the HCHS girls are a perfect 10-0 on the year as they prepare to host Biloxi in Region 4-7A action Tuesday night as well.

The award caps off a big two-week span for McMillian. The 6-foot-2 senior guard just eclipsed the 1,000 career points scored mark for Pascagoula as well as leading the Panthers to their best start to a season in several years.

On Saturday, in a 73-61 win over perennial state power Meridian, McMillian is coming off one of his most complete overall games of the season as he scored 16 points, pulled down six rebounds, dished out six assists and swiped six steals as well in the win over the Wildcats.

Prior to that, he tallied 11 points in a dominating win over Long Beach Friday night 76-44 to open region play and he scored 16 points in a win over Harrison Central one week ago. Coming into that game against Carriere’s male counterparts, McMillan was coming off a big week where he scored 46 combined points in a trio of Panther wins and in the process eclipsed that magical 1,000-point career scoring mark with his 11-point performance in a 44-40 win over Biloxi. He also scored 18 points in a win over Hattiesburg and 17 points in a victory over perennial Louisiana state power Zachary, which is the back-to-back Class 5A state champions.

McMillan averaged right at 16 points and four rebounds as a junior for Pascagoula last season.

Meanwhile, the versatile 6-foot-3 standout Mississippi State commitment Carriere is considered one of the top college prospects in the state of Mississippi and received quite a few offers from Southeastern Conference schools including Mississippi State, Ole Miss and Auburn among others. Last season, she averaged 14.2 points a game while her Red Rebelettes to the overall Class 6A state semifinals at The Mississippi Coliseum in Jackson where they fell to eventual state champs Germantown and Prep All-American Madison Booker.

Carriere started the season off with a season-high 26 point performance in a 63-44 win over perennial state power Hattiesburg and since then her and her teammates have pretty much run roughshod over the competition so far with an average winning margin in their 10 game win streak to open the season of right at 20 points per game. She recently tallied a game-high 23 points in a win over Zachary, La., in the Mississippi/Alabama Challenge in Lyman.

Here are the complete Dandy Dozen lists:

The Clarion Ledger’s Boys Basketball Dandy Dozen

Kameron Brown- Port Gibson

Brewer Carruth- Parklane Academy

Jeremiah “DJ” Davis- Oxford

Jamarion Davis-Fleming- Canton

DeAndre Lewis- Canton

Sam Funches- Germantown

Tamarion Hoover- Yazoo City

Ashton Magee- MRA

Dorian McMillian- Pascagoula

Eric Paymon Jr.- Raymond

Avery Thomas Jr- Terry

Kedrick Simmons- Booneville

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Clarion Ledger’s 2023 Girls Basketball Dandy Dozen:

Anaisha Carriere- Harrison Central 

Jakera Ducksworth- West Jones

Taelar Felton- Clinton

Na’Kaiyla Tootie Lockett- Starkville

Dekyra Mitchell- Holmes County Central

Anna “A. P.” Patterson- Bay Springs 

Macie Phifer- Ingomar

De’Mya Porter- Bogue Chitto

Alana Rouser- Germantown

Jade Rucker- Tupelo

Nicole Sandifer- Magee

Jahanna “Jo Jo” Wilson- Callaway