By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

CLINTON — A quintet of senior standouts in the “Southern Six” will wrap up their prep basketball careers on a prestigious stage here Saturday afternoon.
The annual Alabama/Mississippi All-Star Basketball Classic contests are set for this weekend at A.E. Wood Coliseum on the campus of Mississippi College with a trio of male stalwarts as well as a pair of staunch female products set to compete in the 2024 affairs.
Players are set to report to campus on Thursday to begin practice.
Gulfport’s Amir Abdul Rauf and Pascagoula’s Dorian McMillian as well as St. Patrick’s Matt Krass were all selected as members of the Mississippi Boys squad while Hancock’s Brooklyn Cuevas and Harrison Central’s Anaisha Carriere were named to the Mississippi Girls Team. It will mark the 34th consecutive year that the games have been played.

The girls game is set to tip off at Noon while the boys game will follow around 2 p.m.

The Alabama girls lead the all-time series 19-14 while the Alabama boys are up 18-15 all-time. Home-standing Alabama swept both games last year at The Mitchell Center in Mobile, Ala., on the campus of the University of South Alabama.
In addition to the players, Pascagoula Boys head coach Lorenzo Wright will serve as an assistant on the Mississippi Boys Team as well this year. Then, next year, he’ll be the head coach of the Magnolia State squad in the 35th anniversary of the event.
“It is a blessing to represent the great state of Mississippi and to be a part of a prestigious event,” Wright, who guided his Panthers to a school record 29 consecutive wins this season, said. “It is a two-year commitment, this year I will be the assistant and next year I will be the head coach. We are looking forward to bringing the wins back to Mississippi and showing Alabama that we are the best.”
The Alabama boys have won two straight in the series to take that three game advantage.
Pascagoula’s McMillian, a guard, and Harrison Central’s Carriere, a forward, both were selected to the prestigious “Dandy Dozen” squads as named by The Clarion-Ledger of Jackson newspaper in the preseason.

McMillian, who led the Panthers in scoring this season, went on to become “Mr. Basketball” in Class 6A as well as he helped guide PHS to a 29-2 overall mark and a spot in the Class 6A Final Four in Jackson.
Rauf, son of former Gulfport High prep All-American and NBA standout Chris Jackson (Mahmoud Abdul Rauf), emerged as one of the top scorers in South Mississippi this year from his shooting guard spot for the Admirals.
“It’s a good feeling to be picked to play in this All-Star game,” Rauf said. “It’s a pleasure to be selected as a top player in the state and to show what I’m capable of and for me and the rest of these guys to show out for Mississippi.”
Krass was one of the leading scorers in the state with the Fighting Irish this season, averaging around 27 points per game and leading SPHS to the Class 3A Elite Eight.

Carriere is a recent Mississippi State signee and helped guide Harrison Central to a 23-6 record and a berth in the first-ever Class 7A South State playoffs this season. She is considered one of, if not the top recruit in the state of Mississippi.
Cuevas, a recent William Carey signee, helped her Lady Hawks to an impressive 30-2 overall mark on the season and a berth in the Class 6A Final Four after guiding the team to a 20-0 start as a junior. She had the biggest hand of any player in guiding Hancock to a 57-5 record over the past two seasons.

A quartet of boys from the “Southern Six” participated in the game last season, as Moss Point’s Romero Osby, Gulfport’s Kylan Howze and a pair of Biloxi products in Duran Parish and James Turner all were picked for the game.
Also, four girls players from the “Southern Six” were picked last season as well in Hancock’s Jeanna Garriga and Biloxi’s Shaneal Corpuz along with twin sisters Micah and Madison O’Dell from Gulfport.