By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

LUCEDALE — The West Harrison girls moved into a tie atop the Region 4-6A race Monday night with their 16th straight win.
And the Lady ‘Canes also have the most wins of any team in the “Southern Six” at this point as well.
West Harrison thumped home-standing George County in Sellers Gymnasium 69-33 to move to an impressive 17-1 overall and 3-0 in league play. The Lady ‘Canes are on a 16-game win streak since dropping their second game of the season six weeks ago to Harrison Central. West Harrison sits tied atop the region race with Hancock at 3-0.

“This season has been such an enjoyable group on and off the court,” fourth year WHHS head coach Patty Norwood said. “They have developed into one unit. Each game we try and get a little better and keep our focus on our goals.”
In their latest win, the Lady ‘Canes wasted no time in taking complete command of the contest behind standout junior guard Sydnei Barber.
Barber, a 5-foot-10 swing player, tallied 17 first half points including six in the first quarter to get WHHS off to a fast start. Both she and Jaylenn Applewhite nailed 3-pointer’s in the first frame as the Lady Cane’s streaked out to a 22-5 lead entering the second stanza.

Barber’s 11 points in the next stanza included two more treys and a trio of free throws, while Applewhite dropped in another 3-pointer of her own and Tikyazha Barron recorded three field goals as WHHS poured in a whopping 34 points in the second period to cruise into halftime ahead 54-14.
“We started a little sloppy, but eventually came together,” Norwood added. We got an opportunity to give our role players some good game experience.”
There would be no dramatic comeback by GCHS in the second half, as the Lady Rebels dropped to 5-7 overall and are still in search of their first win in the region race at 0-3.

Barber and most of the rest of the WHHS starters sat out the second half, and her 24 points were a game-high total. Miranda Barber added 10 points, while both Applewhite and Barron chipped in eight points apiece added 12 points to the winning effort for the Lady ‘Canes.
Dekari McNair led the Lady Rebels with 12 points.
Norwood’s squad now heads into the upcoming holiday break and won’t see action again until after the calendar flips to a new year.
“We played throughout the Thanksgiving break so I just decided to give them a break for Christmas,” Norwood concluded.