By STAN CALDWELL/Sports Writer

HATTIESBURG — To boil it down to its essence, Sandra Rushing missed the game that has been a part of her life since childhood.

So when Harrison Central High School was in the market for a new girls basketball coach for its storied program, Rushing couldn’t say no, and just like that the former longtime college mentor is back in the game.

After a season sitting idle, Rushing made her high-school coaching debut Tuesday night with a resounding 51-28 victory over Hattiesburg at Watkins Gym on the HHS campus.

“I’m passionate about the game, and I missed it,” said Rushing. “I’ve been doing it for 35 years, as a coach. I played the game since I was small, on through high school and college.”

Rushing brings to the Red Rebelettes more than three decades of head coaching experience at the college level, with 587 wins in stops at Millsaps, Texas-El Paso, Henderson State, Delta State and, most recently, a successful 11-year stint at Central Arkansas.

She left the Sugar Bears after the 2022-23 season to return to the Gulf Coast to help care for her ailing mother.

“Oh, absolutely, this is a great program, no doubt,” said Rushing. “But we are in a rebuilding process right now. We’re getting back to the ABC’s of basketball, working on the fundamentals.

“We’ve got a great group, but we are young. I have four seniors and the rest are sophomores and freshmen.”

Rushing averaged 20 points a game as a senior at D’Iberville High in 1981-82, earning a scholarship at the University of Alabama, where she played for four seasons and finished her career as the Crimson Tide’s all-time assist leader.

A four-time Southeastern Conference All-Academic Award winner, she continued her education by earning a master’s degree at Delta State, during which time she served one season as a graduate assistant under legendary Lady Statesmen coach Lloyd Clark.

In 1989, she began her head coaching career at Millsaps, where she spent one season, then took on the head job at UTEP. In 11 seasons, Rushing won 123 games and was named to the El Paso Women’s Hall of Fame in 2009.

After a season at Henderson State in Arkansas, Rushing hit her stride as a coach in a highly-successful 10-year tenure back at DSU.

Under Rushing, the Lady Statesmen were 254-58 (81.4 percent) and reached the NCAA Division II Tournament eight times, reaching the Sweet 16 six times and twice making it to the Final Four.

In 2012, UCA athletic director (now president) Brad Teague, who had worked with Rushing at Delta State, hired her to take on the Sugar Bears position.

Central Arkansas won 184 games with Rushing on its bench, including a brilliant two-year run in 2016 and 2017 where the Sugar Bears were 54-9 and won both the Southland Conference regular-season and tournament championships.

“I think she’s a great coach,” said sophomore Saniyah Murray. “She disciplines us, which we need, and I’m not going to lie, she’s a good coach, a really good coach. I think I like her better.

“I feel like I’ve become a better player under her just in the time she’s been here. I just try to work on my game constantly, and she’s always coaching us up.”

Rushing takes over after former head coach Nancy Ladner retired after 16 seasons at the helm of the Red Rebelettes.

Inheriting a program that is historically one of Mississippi’s elite girls’ programs, Rushing will have players who have been steeped in a winning culture, so she doesn’t plan to make wholesale changes in what they do on the court.

“Change is scary,” said Rushing. “The kids are used to certain things being done certain ways. We’re implementing some things as we go along, a little bit of what I like to do. But we’re not there yet.”

The new head coach incurred some heavy losses as she took the job. Center Anaisha Carriere signed with Mississippi State and he little sister Jayla transferred to Biloxi while point guard Michele Jackson moved to West Harrison.

Rushing said she preaches defense as the bedrock of her basketball philosophy, and it appeared the Red Rebelettes are taking the lessons to heart as they buried Hattiesburg with a withering three-quarter court trap that helped force 35 turnovers.

“We played together as a team tonight,” said Murray. “We’re kind of young, but I think we’re going to be pretty good this year as long as we stay together.”

Murray, 6-3 post player, is one of the few returning starters for Harrison Central, and she dominated in the blocks, finishing with 22 points and 17 rebounds.

The Red Rebelettes held the Tigers to just 2 of 15 shots (13.3 percent) from the field in the first half, against 20 Hattiesburg turnovers in the first 16 minutes of play.

Harrison Central had 26 turnovers for the game, more than Rushing might have liked, but for the most part the Red Rebelettes ran her offense efficiently, especially in the second half, when they converted 14 of 38 shots (36.8 percent) from the field.

“I’m a defensive coach, all the way,” said Rushing. “We’ve been a little behind the 8-ball. I got the job at the last week in June, then there was the dead period in July, so I really haven’t had as much time with them as I would like.

Harrison Central also got 9 points from junior Autumn Keeler, a slender 5-foot-5 shooting guard, and 7 points from senior Rihanna Anderson, a 5-9 forward.

Rushing will make her debut on the HCHS home court in Lyman Thursday night against West Harrison.