By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

PERKINSTON — The Hancock girls picked the wrong time to play their worst game in two years.

The Lady Hawks saw their season come to a sudden and almost shocking end Saturday afternoon with a 36-27 loss to Terry in the Class 6A South State Quarterfinal Round here at Dantzler Arena on the campus of Gulf Coast Community College.

Hancock comes up one step short in its quest for back-to-back trips to the overall Class 6A Final Four for the second straight season, and end the year at 27-3. Instead, it will be the Lady Bulldogs heading on to Jackson at 20-7 overall.

“I’m proud, I’m proud of our players and the grit and determination they showed not just today but for the past four years,” veteran Hancock head coach Jamie Sisco said. “Just disappointed in the end result. I wish I could have done more a little more to help them there in the end. We won a lot of games, but in the end we didn’t achieve our goal.”

Cisco’s Kids got off to one of their slowest starts in several seasons, as Terry went into halftime up 18-5 as Lady Bulldogs Zion Wilson and Maleah Young each dropped in a 3-pointer apiece in the first frame. Both of those Terry standouts out-scored Hancock on their own in the first half, Young with eight points and Wilson with six as the Lady Bulldogs took that commanding 13-point lead into halftime.

Terry held Hancock scoreless in the second stanza.

Hancock bounced back in the third frame, as Abigail Carver, Anslee James and Riley Bishop each drained a triple and the Lady Hawks steadily cut the deficit to 22-18 at the end of the period out-scoring THS 13-4 in the process.

But even though Hancock remained within four, at 27-23 on a 3-pointer by Catherine Sins early in the fourth, that would be it for the Lady Hawks as the first half deficit proved to be too much to overcome down the stretch. Young scored eight points in the fourth period, and the Lady Bulldogs converted 8-of-12 free throws to seal the win.

James had eight points to lead the Lady Hawks in the loss.

Young dropped in a game-high 18 points for Terry.