By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

Each week until the first weekend in March at the overall state tournament in Jackson, SouthMiss6 Sports will be the place to be to keep up with the most complete and comprehensive info about all things prep basketball featuring stories and photos in the “Southern Six” counties of the state of Mississippi.

Each week we will take a look at at least five players and five games to keep an eye on as well as release our weekly “Super 7 in the Southern 6 Poll”.

Starting 5 in the “Southern 6

This week’s “Starting 5 in the Southern 6” players list is comprised of area standouts that helped their respective teams pick u big wins over the past week.

1. Simeon Ballard, Resurrection — Ballard, the junior big man inside for the Eagles, posted a 24 points and seven rebounds outing in a big win over visiting Stringer Friday night in Region 8-1A play.
2. Carnellous Lenard, Biloxi — The Indians are coming off an exciting 42-41 win at the buzzer over visiting Ocean Springs Friday night in Region 4-7A play, and Lenard was a big reason why. The Greyhounds were up 41-40 with just :18 seconds to play and had possession of the ball on the BHS end of the court. But a teammate misfired on a 3-pointer in the waning moments and Lenard was in the right place at the right time and he picked up the rebound right underneath the basket and dropped in the game-winning points as time expired. Lenard led BHS with 13 points
3. Lexi Dreher, Hancock — The Hancock girls’ basketball team has done it again. For the third straight season, the Lady Hawks have completed Region 4-6A play unbeaten in the regular season, after thumping home-standing Gautier 70-33 Friday night. The win was the 34th straight in region play for Hancock, including the past two league tournaments, and the Lady Hawks now set their sights on yet another region tourney title in two weeks. Dreher helped Hancock get off to a commanding first half lead with seven points in the second quarter. She finished the night with a game-high 13 points.
4. Alex Patino, St. Patrick — Patino, who was recently selected to play for the South Squad in the annual Mississippi Sports Medicine North/South All-Star Basketball game upcoming in March, showed exactly why she’s considered one of the best players in this part of the state over the past week. Tuesday night, Patino poured in a game and career high 45 points in a 72-54 upset win on the road over arch-rival OLA in Region 8-3A play. The win was the second straight in league play for the Lady Irish, and moved them above the .500 mark overall at 13-12 as well as to 3-5 in the region race. In addition to compiling one out the most prolific scoring outputs in SPHS basketball history, she also added five rebounds, four steals and three assists to the game-winning attack and she had one blocked shot.
5. Travor Frost, Gulfport — The Admirals rallied in the closing minutes against arch-rival Biloxi last week with a smothering defense and four attacking layups in traffic to pull away for a 45-37 win, and secure the number one seed in the Region 4-7A Tournament for the second straight season. The top seed also comes with an opening round bye in the upcoming region tourney and assures the Admirals of a top four finish in the loop and a berth in the upcoming Class 7A South State playoffs. Frost scored a game-high 17 points and pulled down eight rebounds to guide GHS to the win.

This Week’s Games:

1. Harrison Central at Biloxi (girls) — Tuesday night in a key Region 4-7A contest.
2. Gulfport at St. Martin (girls) — Tuesday night in a big Region 4-7A match-up.
3. Vancleave at East Central (girls) — Thursday night in a key Region 4-5A contest.
4. Moss Point at Pascagoula (boys) — Friday night in the annual “Battle of the Cats’ showdown on the hardwood.
5. Ocean Springs at St. Martin (boys) — Friday in a key Region 4-7A game.

South Miss 6 Sports Super 7 Polls

Super 7 in the Southern 6 Prep Hoops Poll!!!!

(Feb. 2nd)

(Our weekly poll is the ONLY one in the state of Mississippi that’s voted solely on by a panel of head basketball coaches)

Boys:

1. Gulfport 23-1
2. West Harrison 20-4
3. St. Stanislaus 22-4
4. Pascagoula 21-6
5. Biloxi 16-6
6. Resurrection 17-4
7. Pass Christian 15-9

Girls:

1. Biloxi 24-1
2. Harrison Central 22-3
3. West Harrison 20-3
4. Hancock 17-8
5. Gulfport 17-8
6. OLA 18-4
7. St. Martin 15-9