By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

HURLEY — The East Central girls picked up their first Region 4-5A win of the season Thursday night.
And it came at the expense of longtime arch-rival Vancleave.
The Lady Hornets matched their highest offensive output of the year with a 53-29 win over the Lady Bulldogs. The win pushes ECHS to 6-3 overall and 1-2 in the region race, while VHS sits 4-10 overall after the loss to the Lady Hornets. The contest was the league opener for the Lady Bulldogs.

The Lady Hornets proved to be quite inhospitable hosts right off the bat, as East Central’s Carley Billingsley tallied eight points in the opening quarter and Makyala Thornton chipped in a 3-pointer as the home team led 14-3 after the first period. Aniyah Franklin had Vancleave lone basket on a trey of her own.
Thornton and Olivia Tanner each drained a 3-pointer apiece in the second stanza for ECHS, and Haiven Washington responded with a trey for VHS as East Central rolled into halftime with a 27-12 advantage.
Tanner nailed another trey in the third frame, as the Lady Hornets steadily continued to pull away from their guests as the period unfolded and led 38-15 heading into the fourth frame.

East Central’s Cambree Cumbest, who scored four points in each of the second and third quarters, did so again in the final frame as the Lady Hornets cruised to the win.
Billingsley and Cumbesr tallied 12 points apiece to pace ECHS to the win, while Tanner added 10 points, Breyona Tanner nine points and Thornton eight points to the winning effort
Washington registered a game-high 14 points for Vancleave, including nine in the fourth period.
East Central visits Poplarville Friday night, while Vancleave remains in region play hosting Wayne County.

Following the girls game, the Vancleave boys managed a split on the evening with a 63-40 win over East Central.