By CURTIS ROCKWELL

Once again this year, the Biloxi High School Sports Complex will be home to one of the largest two-day holiday prep basketball tournaments in the state of Mississippi.
In fact, according to organizers, it’s quickly become the home of the biggest girls’ multi-day event in the state of Mississippi.
The seventh annual Lady Indians Holiday Classic tips-off Thursday at 10 a.m., at BHS and will feature 24 teams from four different states on two courts and 24 games before wrapping up Friday night when the host Lady Indians take on Greene County in the final contest.
There are 20 girls teams and four boys teams that comprise the field this year as the boys return to the event for the second time in seven tourneys.

“We look forward to hosting this event every year because you get to play teams that you don’t typically see every year,” veteran Lady Indians head coach Devin Hill said Wednesday afternoon. “We have teams from Mississippi, Alabama, Florida and Louisiana. I am really excited about the matchups this year. The coast is well represented, which is always important to me. Over the years, this has become the state’s largest girls-only event, and we are really proud of that.”
There will be nine “Southern Six” squads in the mix as tourney play gets underway, seven girls’ teams and a pair of boys’ teams. The girls and boys teams from the host Biloxi as well as Hancock High are all involved in the event.

Also, the girls’ and boys’ teams from Greene County from Alabama to participate, while both the boys and girls teams from Holy Spirit High out of Tuscaloosa, Ala., will be participating also.
The other girls’ teams from the “Southern Six” involved are Pascagoula, Ocean Springs, Picayune, D’Iberville and Moss Point, while Lumberton, Lake, Wayne County and Houston are also participating. In addition to Holy Spirit, the other out-of-state squads are Alma Bryant, Baker, Blount, Davidson and Theodore all from South Alabama as well as Booker T. Washington out of Pensacola, Fla. and St. Scholastica out of Covington, La.

The Hancock Lady Hawks are the only unbeaten team remaining in the “Southern Six” as the calendar creeps to a new year, while the host Biloxi Lady Indians sit at 13-1 coming into their own event.
“This week will allow us to get our feet back under us after being off for a few days,” Hancock head coach Jamie Sisco said. “Coach Hill does a great job of bringing in teams from other areas to create matchups we don’t normally see. I am anxious to see how we play after the break and look forward to getting back on the court with our team.”