By MAURICE SINGLETON/Sports Writer

LYMAN — The home-standing Harrison Central girls pulled out a thrilling 48-46 win over Pascagoula Tuesday night.
And HCHS sophomore standout center Saniyah Murray was a big reason why.
Murray poured in a game-high 31 points and also posted a double-double in the win with 18 rebounds for HCHS.
Pascagoula and Harrison Central were tied at 42-42 with four minutes left on the game clock, but a Murray block, followed by her sinking one of two free throws with 49 seconds left on the clock gave the Lady Red Rebels all they needed for the win.

Massyah Thomas sank an eight-footer to get the Lady Panthers within two points of the Lady Red Rebels (46-44) and then a 15-footer with five seconds left on the game clock to close out the game’s scoring.
“Both teams played hard,” said Lady Red Rebels coach Sandra Rushing. “I’m very proud of the win with such a young group. We’re learning, but we’re still making mistakes.
“We had freshmen and sophomores out there, and you could tell we were playing like freshmen and sophomores,” said Rushing. ”We’ve got a lot of maturing to do.”

Pascagoula would gain the lead twice in the second half with leads of 37-35 in the third quarter, then 40-39 in the final quarter, but the closest they would come after that would be tying the game at 42-42.
Pascagoula would outscore Harrison Central in the second quarter (14-11) and they tied them in the final quarter (9-9).

Murray led the way for HCHS with those 31 points in the winning effort while Rihanna Anderson added seven points.

“It’s been a rough year so far, so tonight was about getting better,” said Lady Panthers coach Lakia Westerfield. “I definitely wanted to see that they’ve grown, and that they fight. And they did that tonight.”

Thomas tallied a career-high 31 points to pace Pascagoula and she drilled five 3-pointers for the Lady Panthers.
With the win, Rushing’s squad improves to 6-2 and will play at Gulfport on Friday in the Region 4-7A opener for both teams. Pascagoula drops to 3-4 on the season, and will play at Long Beach on Friday in the Region 4-6A opener for both teams as well.