By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

PERKINSTON — It’s been 20 years since the Hancock girls captured their fourth and last state basketball championship.
On Friday night in the Class 6A South State Quarterfinal round, the Lady Hawks earned the right to play for their fifth.
Hancock hammered Jackson Forrest Hill 74-45 in the Class 6A Elite Eight here at Dantzler Arena on the campus of Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College. The win moves the Lady Hawks to a stunning 30-1 overall record on the season, as veteran head coach Jamie Sisco’s crew has won 57 out of its last 61 games.
Hancock hasn’t lost to an opponent from the state of Mississippi in over a year.
The Lady Hawks move on the Class 6A Final Four at the overall state tournament in Jackson at the “Big House” where they’ll meet Neshoba Central Wednesday in the semifinals at 5:30 p.m., at The Mississippi Coliseum. Neshoba Central thumped Olive Branch 69-44 Thursday night in the Class 6A North State Quarterfinals in Itta Bena at Mississippi Valley State University.

“Incredible performance by our team,” Sisco said, minutes after the big win. “We are a team first program and have a team first mentality, but we knew there were some individual battles we had to win tonight. Our players answered the challenge and then some. I can’t say enough about the toughness and mentality of our team. On to the next one.”

Hancock senior standout Brooklyn Cuevas poured in a game-high 33 points to pace the Lady Hawks in yet another outstanding performance this season.
Cuevas tallied 14 first-half points as the Lady Hawks steadily stretched a slight early lead out to nine at the end of the first quarter at 19-10 and then into double digits at 14 heading into halftime up 34-20.
Cuevas had nine of her points in that opening period, as the Lady Hawks began to assert themselves. Talana Bond then posted eight of her 10 first-half points in the second stanza as the Lady Hawks continued to impress.

Manned with that 14-point advantage entering the second half, Hancock began to feel that trip to Jackson even more as the Lady Hawks just kept pounding Forest Hill time and again on each trip down the court. Cuevas dropped in 15 more points in the third frame alone, including an eight-for-eight performance at the free throw line, and Hancock and had its biggest lead of the game at 62-36 heading into the fourth period.
It was just. matter of the clock running out in the final frame at that point.

In addition to Cuevas’ game-high 33 points, Bond tallied 19 points and Cambria Necaise chipped in nine points to the winning effort.
Destiny King finished with 17 points to pace the Lady Patriots, including trying to kee her team in the game with five 3-pointers all coming in the second half. Forrest Hill finishes the season at 13-17 overall.
Cuevas was recently named the inaugural SouthMiss6 Sports girls’ Prep Basketball “Player of the Year”.
A senior standout swing guard that recently signed with William Carey University, Cuevas has led the Lady Hawks in scoring in each of the past two seasons, and has been an integral part of both outstanding seasons for Hancock over the past two years.
“It’s no secret why Brooklyn has become the player that she is…she’s coachable and working harder than most when nobody is watching.” Sisco said recently. “The amount of time she works on her own outside of our practice is what separates her in terms of skill. The heart of a champion and the will to win is something inside of her, and I am not sure you can coach that all the time. It starts at home with her and we just do our best to help put her in good situations. You won’t find a better kid and teammate than her either, and I would almost guarantee her teammates would agree.”