By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

The celebration of MLK Day each year in Mississippi always means plenty of prep basketball action for teams all across the state.
And that’s the case once again this year for teams squads in the “Southern Six” as well.

The Gulfport Lady Admirals are hosting the inaugural “Girls Grind MLK Classic” on Saturday afternoon at Bert Jenkins Gym. There will be four games, featuring a trio of Harrison County girls’ teams.
Action tips off at 1 p.m., with West Harrison facing Heidelberg followed by the only game not featuring a team from South Mississippi as Holmes Central meets Terry.
The last two contests have Harrison Central meeting Northwest Rankin at 4 p.m., and then play wraps up with host Gulfport facing Magee at 5:30.

“We’re excited to establish our “Girls Grind” Basketball Classic, recognizing the monumental contributions of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to our society, as well as, the hard work (grind) of high school ladies’ basketball teams,” Lady Admirals head coach Marcus Price said Friday. “We would like to express our gratitude to Northwest Rankin, Terry, Heidelburg, Magee, West Harrison, and Harrison Central for participating in our inaugural event. Long term, we aim to match the best teams from the coast against other teams from Mississippi and surrounding states. There will be some really good teams and special individual players competing tomorrow. We encourage everyone to come out and watch how these ‘Girls Grind’!”
All three of the “Southern Six” squads involved in the affair are also in region action Friday night, as Gulfport travels to arch-rival Biloxi in Region 4-7A play and Harrison Central is at Ocean Springs in the same league. West Harrison heads to Hancock in Region 4-6A action Friday night as well.

On the boy’s side of things, powerful Pascagoula heads up to the Jackson area yet again to participate in the prestigious “Rumble in the South” on Monday afternoon. The Panthers join Harrison Central in the annual affair.
“We are looking forward to playing a talented Yazoo City squad,” Pascagoula head coach Lorenzo Wright said. “They have two players picked to play in the Alabama/Mississippi All-Star game so it will definitely be a challenge. it’s also a great measuring stick against a great 5A contender”
The event takes place in Clinton at A.E. Wood Coliseum on the campus of Mississippi College. Pascagoula faces Yazoo at 5:30 in the eight-game event that begins at 10 a.m. The Red Rebels meet Ridgeland at 11:30 a.m., in the second game of the day.

The Panthers and Red Rebels are the only teams from the “Southern Six” involved in the one-day event. Petal faces Germantown at 7 p.m., following the Pascagoula-Yazoo game.
This will mark the fourth trip to the Jackson area for the Panthers this season and will actually be Pascagoula’s sixth game in that geographic region also after the Panthers won three games and took home the title in the inaugural Madison County Tournament the week between Christmas and New years. They also tipped the season off with a trip to Madison Central High for “The Jump” 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 that also took place in A.E. Wood Coliseum on the campus of Mississippi College in Clinton.
It was at “The Jump” where Pascagoula suffered its only loss of the season, as the Panthers carry a 17-game win streak into Friday night’s home game against Picayune in Region 4-6A play.