By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

KILN — Pascagoula’s attempt at pulling into a tie atop the Region 4-6A girls’ standings Tuesday night resulted in a 22nd win for league-leading and home-standing Hancock.
The powerful Lady Hawks retained sole possession of the top spot in the region race with a 48-33 win over the Lady Panthers. The win moved Hancock to a perfect 7-0 in league play as well as 22-1 overall, while Pascagoula falls to 6-2 in the region race and 10-9 overall.

“Hats off to Pascagoula, they were ready to play and gave us all we wanted.” Hancock head coach Jamie Sisco said.

Both teams started slow in the contest, as the first point didn’t come until over halfway through the first period when Hancock’s Abigail Carver hit a 3-pointer from deep in the right wing.
The Lady Hawks went on to lead just 6-4 at the end of the opening quarter.
Hancock went on to stretch its leads to as many as eight at one point in the second stanza, on a lay-up at the 5:07 mark by Brooklyn Cuevas that doubled up PHS at 16-8. But the Lady Panthers trailed just 19-14 at halftime thanks to a big 3-pointer by Massyah Thomas.

Another 3-pointer by Carver a little less than three minutes into the third frame returned Hancock’s lead to eight at 24-16. The Lady Hawks then used a 9-2 run to end the period that included yet another trey from Carver to take command of the game and grab its first double-digit advantage of the night at 33-22 entering the final quarter.

Cuevas and Talana Bond wasted no time in putting the game away early in the fourth frame, as both drained 3-pointers and Cuevas added a lay-up as well to push the lead to its largest of the game at 44-26 with 2:45 to play.

“We struggled shooting the ball tonight, which happens in this game at times.” Sisco added. “But once again, we had someone step up for us. Abby Carver was fantastic for us tonight and really gave us a spark when we were struggling offensively. Talana also hit a couple shots that gave us some separation.”
Bond led the balanced scoring attack for Hancock with 13 points, while Cuevas added 12 and Carver nine on those three treys
.Pascagoula got 13 points from Thomas and 12 points from Kailyn Hyde.

Both league losses for the Lady Panthers came at the hands of Hancock, and PHS is in a battle for the second seed in the upcoming region tournament and the automatic state playoff berth that goes along with it.
The Lady Hurricanes moved into a second-place tie with the Lady Panthers with a 72-37 road win over George County Tuesday night.
West Harrison travels to Pascagoula Friday night. Hancock heads to Lucedale in region action Thursday night.