By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

BILOXI — It had been almost a year since the Biloxi Lady Indians lost consecutive basketball games.
But that’s exactly what happened Wednesday night.
Visiting Harrison Central strolled into the Biloxi Sports Arena and upset Biloxi 41-36 in Region 4-7A play. The decision hands the Lady Indians their first league loss of the season and now both teams share the top spot in the region race with 5-1 marks.
Biloxi was coming off a 31-29 loss to Mc-Gill-Tolen of Mobile, Ala., on Saturday in Gulf Shores, Ala., at the Alabama/Mississippi Challenge and now stands at 19-4 as the Lady Indians were denied in the second straight attempt at a 20-in season.

Harrison Central was also coming off a loss over the weekend, 88-61 to Northwest Rankin in the “Girls Grind MLK Classic” in Gulfport. But head coach Nancy Ladner’s crew got back on the winning track with the important league win and moves to 18-3 with its fourth straight region win after falling to Biloxi 47-26 a little over a month ago.
In the rematch, the teams were knotted up at 10-10 late in the first quarter before perhaps the most important shot of the game came as Harrison Central freshman guard Jayla Carriere banked in a buzzer-beating 3-point desperation shot that made it 13-10 heading into the second stanza.

Carriere continued to have the hot hand as the second stanza unfolded, posting eight straight points to open the frame including two more treys. Yet another 3-pointer, this one from her big sister Anaisha Carriere, gave HCHS its first double-digit lead of the game at 22-12 with three minutes to play before halftime and the lead remained a 10-point deficit at intermission 25-15.
Another trey by Jayla Carriere made it a double-digit advantage again, at 30-20 three minutes into the third frame before Biloxi began to make a move.

The Lady Indians closed out the quarter on a 9-3 run and thanks to a pair of putbacks by center Zaniya Johnson and trailed just 33-29 entering the final period.
Despite cutting the deficit to two, at 35-33, on a mid-range jump shot by Amari Meredith with just over six minutes to play, Harrison Central kept Biloxi at bay throughout the rest of the game and a pair of free throws by Jayla Carriere with :22 seconds to play sealed the win.
Jayla Carriere paced HCHS with a game-high 20 points in the win, while Michelle Jackson added six points.
Meredith, Johnson and Aubrey Hill each scored eight points apiece for Biloxi while Aaliyah Davidson added six points on a pair of 3-pointers in that third quarter when the Lady Indians mounted their comeback. Johnson also had 13 rebounds.

Both teams are back in Region 4-7A play Friday night as Biloxi heads to D’Iberville and Harrison Central takes on Gulfport.