By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

KILN — The last time Hancock and Gulfport faced off in a girls’ basketball game, the Lady Admirals ended one of the most successful Lady Hawks seasons in years with an upset win in the Region 4-6A Tournament 11 months ago.
The loss denied Hancock, which finished the season at an impressive 27-3, a berth in the Class 6A South State playoffs despite the Lady Hawks being one of the top-ranked teams in the state of Mississippi all year long.
On Tuesday night, home-standing Hancock earned a small measure of revenge on Gulfport with a 68-24 win in the first game for both squads since the calendar flipped to 2024.
The Lady Hawks remained unbeaten on the year at 16-0, while Gulfport fell to 2-13. It marks the second consecutive season that Hancock has started a season at 16-0. And, once Hancock’s win streak reached 20-0 last season, it was Gulfport that snapped that streak with a win 51 weeks ago.

“Proud of our players for coming out focused and everyone doing their job,” Hancock head coach Jamie Sisco said. “We have a huge week coming up with Biloxi on Thursday and Hoover on Saturday, so it was nice to see our players stick to our motto of “next game” and not look ahead.”
Hancock quickly jumped out to a commanding 19-2 lead after one quarter and never looked back.
Talina Bond put the Lady Hawks ahead 2-0 right off the bat with a lay-up, and a 3-pointer by Brookly Cuevas made it 5-0. Less than 30 seconds later, Cuevas hit her second trey to make it 8-0, and she followed that long jumper with a lay-up off of an assist from a steal and dish from Anslee James to make it 1-0.
The lead reached 14-0 when James scored with 3:15 to go in the opening quarter, and then Gulfport’s Shamiya Walker finally got her team on the scoreboard with a short jump shot to make it 14-2 after opening the game with a five-minute draught.
Cuevas nailed another 3-pointer giving Hancock that aforementioned 17-point advantage entering the second stanza, and Gulfport never got closer than 14 points the rest of the game.

Cuevas had nine points in the first frame, and finished with a game-high 30 points in the win including six treys.
If the Lady Admirals harbored any hope of an unbelievable second half comeback, Cuevas quickly shipped those ideas out to sea as she registered 17 points in the third period alone including another trio of 3-pointers.
“Brooklyn did a really good job of taking advantage of what Gulfport gave her,” Cisco added. “Also, her teammates certainly made the extra pass tonight to get her the ball.”
James and Emmi Maedre finished with seven points apiece for HHS.

Lily Hooker finished with three 3-pointers to lead Gulfport with nine points, and Skyy Bush added eight points for the Lady Admirals.
The win for the Lady Hawks sets up one of the most anticipated match-ups of the season so far not only in the “Southern Six” but the entire state of Mississippi as 16-0 Hancock hosts 16-1 Biloxi Thursday night.