By JOSEPH W. GEX II/Sports Writer

Kiln — The St. Martin girls came to the Kiln undefeated at 16-0 Friday night to face home-standing Hancock.

But the Lady Yellow Jackets wouldn’t make it out unscathed .

The Hancock Lady Hawks played stifling defense and shot 16-of-19 from the charity stripe to knock the Lady Yellow Jackets off the unbeaten pedestal 45-38. Hancock also entered the week unbeaten but suffered its first loss of the season on the road on Tuesday to Biloxi. The Lady Hawks are now 14-1 as SMHS drops to 16-1.

Hancock head coach Jamie Sisco commented, “I thought our toughness and rebounding brought us over the finish line tonight. In the first half on offense, it seemed like we were moving well but we hit a wall in the second half. Right now, we are struggling with the turnover battle. We have to focus on that in practice so that we can get that behind us and focus on what we are capable of achieving.”

The Lady Hawks controlled most of the first period enjoying as much as a four point lead when Anslee James sank two free throws to make the score 14-10. The period ended with Hancock up 15-12. 

Kylenn Ward opened the second period for St. Martin with a basket to cut the lead to one before Kiyara Lee knotted the score at 15-15 with a free throw with 6:43 remaining in the half. That would be as close as St. Martin would get. 

Hancock went on a 10-2 run to close the period with the four baskets coming from four different Lady Hawks as they enjoyed a 29-23 halftime advantage. 

Hancock pushed the difference to 34-23 as Talana Bond hit a three-ball and two charity shots to open the second half. 

Kennedi Jenkins stopped the bleeding for St. Martin with a basket with 2:31 left in the third to make the score 34-25.

St. Martin sank two more baskets before Riley Bishop swished a three-pointer with 19 seconds left to make the score 37-29. 

Bond scored the first five points of the final period for Hancock as they went up 42-31 with four minutes remaining. 

Down the stretch, the Lady Hawks kept the Lady Yellow Jackets at Bay with stingy defense to close out their win and knock St. Martin from the ranks of the undefeated. 

“Great match-up for us to end 2024 play with,” St. Martin head coach Jason Kennedy said. “We missed a few assignments on defense that led to a few easy baskets for Hancock. We weren’t able to get out in transition as much as I would have liked as well, but I’m so proud of the fight that these young ladies bring night in and night out. I’m pleased with where we are headed into the new year.”

The Lady Hawks were led by Talana Bond with 17 points followed by Anslee James who scored 11 points including 9-for-10 at the line. Riley Bishop had 7 points along with Cambria Necaise who also pulled down 10 rebounds. 

The Lady Yellow Jackets were paced by Kylenn Ward with 17 points followed by Kennedi Jenkins and Yvette Nathan with 6 points each.