By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

A pair of prep basketball teams from the “Southern Six”, one boys and one girls, in different situations and classifications, are each one step away from a trip to Jackson.

In Class 7A, the St. Martin Lady Yellow Jackets take on Northwest Rankin Friday afternoon at 4 p.m.,at Dantzler Arena in Perkinston on the campus of Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College. The game is the first of four in the second-ever Class 7A South State Quarterfinal Round.

St. Martin is looking to make a return trip to the overall Class 7A Final Four for the second straight season under fourth year head coach Jason Kennedy. The Lady Yellow Jackets finished last season at 23-8 and fell to Germantown 50-43 in the overall semifinals.

This season, despite losing his top six performers from last season, Kennedy has guided his crew to a solid 25-5 mark as they face off with Northwest Rankin, which also sits at 25-5.

The Lady Cougars are coming off of a 76-35 thumping of visiting Gulfport last week to open the state playoffs, while St. Martin had an easy time of it as well with a 61-35 home win over Meridian.

The Class 7A Final Four action begins at 9 a.m., Monday morning in Jackson.

On the other side of things sit the Pass Christian Pirates, who have to wait until Saturday to meet Morton at 2:30 p.m., at White Coliseum in Poplarville on the campus of Pearl River Community College in the Class 4A South State Quarterfinal round.

The Pirates haven’t qualified for a berth in the overall state tournament in Jackson at The Mississippi Coliseum in nine years, when they fell to eventual state champion Corinth in 2016.

Pass Christian has rolled through the Class 4A South State playoffs so far with a pair of comfortable home wins, 74-24 over Northeast Jones and 68-37 over Columbia. The Pirates are 22-9 overall under first-year head coach Robin Sikes, while Morton sits at 21-6 overall.

The Panthers are coming off of a close 47-44 win over Jackson Lanier, after thumping Bay High 54-23 to open the playoffs.

The Class 4A Final Four starts next Thursday night.