By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

LYMAN — The Harrison Central girls have had an up and down season so far when it comes to Region 4-7A action.

But first-year head coach Sandra Rushing’s squad hopes to use a big league win Saturday to propel them to higher heights through the last week of the regular season.

Home-standing Harrison Central slipped past Gulfport 52-49 in the third game of the “HoopsFest 2025”. The game was added to the schedule of the annual affair after being postponed for eight days and it was the only region game of any of the five games on the day.

The win pushes HCHS to 12-6 overall on the season, but more importantly moved Rushing’s crew back above the .500 level in the region race at 4-3. It also kept Harrison Central’s hopes of an opening round bye in the upcoming Region 4-7A Tournament alive which also includes with it an automatic berth in the Class 7 South State playoffs as well.

Harrison Central sits in third place in the league standings, one game behind St. Martin which is in second place at 5-2. Both teams sit behind league-leading Biloxi which is a perfect 7-0 and has already clinched one of the top two seeds in the postseason tourney.

Saturday’s match-up was close throughout the contest, as HCHS led 10-7 after the first fame and then 23-19 at halftime thanks in part to 11 first half points from Saniyah Murray including eight in the second stanza.

Gulfport’s M.J. Avery also had eight points in the second period, including a pair of 3-pointers, to keep the Lady Admirals close.

The teams battled back and forth on an even basis as the third frame unfolded, as Gulfport’s Ashlyn Casey tallied 11 pounts including a trio of triples and Avery added another trey as well. Harrison Central responded with six more points from Murray and a trey by Keeler to maintain that same four point halftime advantage heading into the final quarter at 37-33.

Despite four more 3-pointers down the stretch by Gulfport, two from Skyy Bush and one each by Casey and Trinity Moore, Keeler helped keep the Lady Admirals at bay with seven points including a trey of her own as HCHS sealed the three-point win.

Murray paced Harrison Central with a game-high 19 points, while Keeler chipped in 14 points to the winning cause and Rhiana Anderson added eight points.

Casey had 14 points, all in the second half, to guide Gulfport while Avery had 13 points for the Lady Admirals.

Gulfport dropped to 10-13 overall and has now lost three straight games since beating St. martin 69-53, and is 3-4 in the region race.