By CURTIS ROCKWELL

As prep basketball players all across the “Southern Six” unwrapped their gifts in celebration of Christmas Day, most of those same athletes also harbor hopes of celebrating with a Gold Ball in Jackson the first weekend of March as well.

 And, if early season play is any indication, the Mississippi Gulf Coast has a chance to rule Class 6A play on both the boys’ and girls’ side of the court come state tourney time.

Both the Pascagoula boys and Hancock girls have raced to the Christmas break with a combined record of 26-1, as the Panthers stand 13-1 and currently own a 13-game win streak, and the Lady Hawks sit at a perfect 13-0 mark and also, obviously, are on a 13 game win streak at the moment.

And although there’s half the season left to play, both teams seem in prime positions to be serious threats to bring home state championships.

In the Kiln, Hancock is off to its second straight 13-0 start to a season. And even though that streak eventually reached 21-0, the Lady Hawks failed to make the Class 6A South State playoffs after stumbling in their region tourney.

But head coach Jamie Sisco had just about his entire team coming back, and those veteran girls seem intent on making sure history doesn’t repeat itself when the postseason rolls around this time.

“Making it to the Christmas break at 13-0 is a credit to our players and their toughness and grit, not we just have to keep on keeping on,” Cisco said after Hancock beat Harrison Central in a big match-up in their last game before Christmas break.

Hancock has used a completely balanced attack on offense and defense in its recent unbeaten streak. Defensively, point guard Talina Bond and center Jordan Bishop have been effective patrolling the perimeter and defending the hoop, respectively. The Lady Hawks allow an average of just 29 points per game so far this season and that ball-hawking unit is even better in Region 4-6A play allowing just less than 21 points per contest in a 3-0 league ledger.

Offensively, recent William Carey signee Brooklyn Cuevas, Anslee James and Cambria Necaise have all delivered effective outings in addition to Bishop and Bond. 

The balance was on display heading into the break. In the penultimate contest, a Region 4-6A win over Pascagoula , James led Hancock with a game-high 13 points, while Cuevas and Bishop each chipped in 11 points apiece to the winning cause. Then, the next day against Harrison Central, James led Hancock’s balanced scoring approach with 11 points while both Cuevas and Necaise added nine points apiece. 

The Lady Hawks are back in action later this week with a pair of games in the Lady Indians Christmas Classic in Biloxi. They then open 2024 with a pair of games against Class 7A competition against Biloxi and Gulfport.

Panthers on the prowl

Meanwhile, on the other end of the Coast, the Pascagoula boys’ basketball team was the last squad in the “Southern Six” to wrap up its pre-Christmas part of its schedule Saturday, when the Panthers headed to Clinton.

And head coach Lorenzo Wright’s Panthers made the most of the rare day before Christmas Eve contest, knocking off Jackson Academy 70-59 at the BASSA Invitational in A.E. Wood Coliseum on the campus of Mississippi College in Clinton.

The win was the 13th straight for Pascagoula after a season-opening loss to Madison Central, and the Panthers stand at an impressive 13-1 overall as they prepare to unwrap their gifts over the next few days. 

“With the competition that we have played, we are very fortunate to be 13-1,” Wright said Saturday, on the trip back home. “I’m proud that it has been a different guy each night, it shows that they are playing for each other, not caring who gets the credit as long as ‘WE’ get the credit as a team.”

Saturday’s game was the fourth of an eight-game session at MC on Saturday, and Chris North was the big man on campus in Clinton for Pascagoula in the latest win, as the 6-foot-4 senior forward tallied a team-high 20 points including a pair of 3-pointers to earn Most Valuable Players honors in the contest.

That performance resulted in Pascagoula having four different leading scorers in its past four wins, as well as five different points leaders in its last six games.

The Panthers were coming off a win over Bay High earlier in the week, in a contest where senior Dandy Dozen standout Dorian McMillan led the way with 13 points in a blowout win. Prior to that, in a Region 4-6A win over Hancock, Blake Nettles tallied 15 points to pace PHS.

Pascagoula sits 3-0 in the region race, and in the first two league games Justin Roque came off the bench with 16 points to lead the way and Kelan Rich poured in a game-high 33 points in a win over Long Beach to open league play just over two weeks ago.

In addition to that quintet, the fifth PHS starter Markeuse Grady has been one of the more productive Panthers as well as evidenced by the 6-foot-6 senior center’s 14-point, eight-rebound performance in just 22 minutes of playing time in the most recent win Saturday.

No basketball team, boys or girls, from Jackson County has ever won a prep state championship.