By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

BILOXI — The Biloxi Lady Indians were upset in the Region 4-7A Tournament championship game.
A week later, the Lady Indians returned home to open the first-ever Class 7A South State playoffs and were in a much better mood.
Biloxi knocked off a scrappy bunch from Brandon 41-34 at The Biloxi Sports Arena to keep its season alive and move on to the next round. The Lady Indians now stand a solid 26-5 overall and are set to face Northwest Rankin next Saturday in the Class 7A South State Quarterfinal Tournament in Perkinston on the campus of Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College.

“It’s the playoffs…you just have to find a way to win,” seventh-year Biloxi head coach Devin Hill said. “That’s what we did tonight. It doesn’t help when you have to wait an entire week off, but we have to just play the hand we were dealt.”
Biloxi got a big game from 6-foot-4 freshman center Zaniya Johnson in the win Friday night. Johnson posted yet another double-double and scored over half of the Lady Indian’s point total in the process, with a 23 points, 12 rebound outing. She also added seven blocked shots.
Johnson was coming off a sub-par performance in the region tourney title tilt when she was limited to just 10 points in a 42-34 loss to St. Martin.
Aaliyah Davidson added seven points and six assists to the winning effort, while Nakenya Terry had six points.

“We like where we are,” Hill concluded. “We like how the bracket shapes out. All we can ask for, at the end of the day, is a chance. And we have that. We believe that defense travels, and if we can compete on the defensive end every night, we give ourselves a chance to be successful. I told the girls we just have to find a way to win thre in a row. We’ve done it before, so we will try our hand at it again.”

Elsewhere in the opening round of the Class 7A South State playoffs Friday night, St. Martin thumped Pearl 65-36 while Northwest Rankin beat D’Iberville 58-42 and Meridian ended a once promising Harrison Central season with a 40-30 decision.