By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

The two girls basketball squads in the “Southern Six” that advanced to the overall state tournament Final Four in their respective classifications last year finally get back on the hardwood this weekend.
Both St. Martin and Hancock waited a few days longer than most to get the new campaigns tipped off, but both the Lady Yellow Jackets and the Lady Hawks swing into action Friday night and both are on the road.

St. Martin takes on Gautier in its season-opener. The Lady Yellow Jackets are coming off a 25-8 season under the direction of head coach Jason Kennedy. St. Martin fell to Germantown 50-43 in the first-ever Class 7A Final Four Overall State Semifinal round to end last season. It marked just the second time in program history that the Lady Yellow Jackets had qualified for the Final Four in The Big House.
“Obviously we were very pleased with the hard work and attention to detail that yielded great results last season,” Kennedy said earlier this week. “As a staff we are looking to build off that success.”
Kennedy lost five seniors to graduation as each are now playing juco ball, and he will also be without his top returning player all season as junior guard Kaleah Lowery injured her knee over the summer and will be out this season.

“I’m just excited to get to work with such a hard working group of young ladies,” Kennedy added. “We are going to be playing quite a bit of younger girls this year and that’s okay because we are excited to see the growth! We are going to put them out there in big moments.”

Meanwhile, Hancock heads across the state line to Gulf Shores, Ala., to compete in the Lady Dolphins second annual Tip-off Tournament at Gulf Shores High School.
The Lady Hawks take on Daphne, Ala., Friday night and Theodore, Ala, Saturday morning before returning home.
Hancock won’t be the only “Southern Six” squad to embark on a fairly log road trip this weekend as a pair of boys teams take the highway to the Jackson area to compete in the annual “The Jump” early season event at Madison Central High School.

Ocean Springs is the first local squad up in the seven game all day affair, as the Greyhounds meet Yazoo City at 10 a.m. Pascagoula takes on Ridgeland at 5:30 in a rematch of last years meeting in the Class 6A overall state semifinals.