There were a pair of Region 8-6A squads from the Mississippi Gulf Coast in the Class 6A girls’ Final Four Wednesday at The Mississippi Coliseum in Jackson.
But both Biloxi and Harrison Central’s time in the Big House was short-lived, and a pair of powers from the North side of the bracket will play for the state title.
First Tupelo and then Germantown proved to be too much for the “Southern Six” contingent, as Biloxi fell to THS 56-45 and Harrison Central lost to GHS 46-35 in semifinal round action.
Those results mean that Tupelo and Germantown will face off at 5 p.m., Saturday afternoon at The Mississippi Coliseum in Jackson with the Class 6A girls’ state championship on the line.
The Biloxi Lady Indians saw their season come to an end with a 25-7 mark. Biloxi led at two at the end of the first quarter 12-10, but the Lady Golden Wave bounced back with a one-point lead of their own at halftime 24-23.
Tupelo led throughout almost the entire second half. including 36-31 at the end of three frames. A 3-pointer by Mikayla Riley a little before the halfway point of the fourth quarter gave the Lady Wave their first double-digit advantage of the contest at 45-35, and the Lady Indians never recovered.
Riley poured in a game-high 26 points for the Lady Golden Wave, as they moved to an impressive 27-3 on the season. Audria Houston chipped in 17 points and eight rebounds to the winning cause.
Senior standout Shaneal Corpuz tallied 22 points to lead the Lady Indians in her last game for Biloxi. Fittingly enough, just like she has done at least a dozen times this season, the William Carey signee Corpuz ended her career posting yet another double-double as she also pulled down 14 rebounds in the loss.
It marked the second win over the year for Tupelo over Biloxi ass the Lady Wave clipped the Lady Indians 52-46 in the “Tangle on the Trail” Tournament in Pontotoc in mid-December.
The second semifinal game of the day was also a rematch from a regular season match-up, and, just like the first game, the results were pretty much the s same as they were a few months earlier.
On Wednesday, Germantown jumped out to an early 8-2 lead after the first period and never trailed again. The Harrison central girls’ did hang around, however, as the Lady Mavericks went on to lead 24-19 at halftime and 35-28 at the end of three frames.
With Harrison Central trailing by six, at 36-31 with a little over five minutes to play, Germantown’s 6-foot-2 center Madison Booker, a University of Texas signee and Miss Basketball in Class 6A in the state of Mississippi drained a 3-pointer to put the Lady Mavs up 40-31 and pretty much seal the deal.
With Texas head women’s basketball coach Vic Schaeffer in the stands, Booker tallied a game-high 22 points and grabbed nine boards for Germantown which moved to an even more impressive 28-3 on the year.
Alana Rouser added eight points and 11 rebounds to the winning effort for the Lady Mavericks.
Larissa Hubbard scored seven points for Harrison Central and Anaisha Carriere added six points for the Red Rebelettes, which finish the season at 20-14. Harrison Central, which has now been to the Big House for the Class 6A overall state semifinals three years in a row, lost in the state championship game to Meridian last year.
In the regular season meeting between these two teams, Germantown pulled out a 65-51 win in Lyman and it was much of the same as it was Wednesday night as Booker poured in a game-high 25 points and had seven rebounds while Rouser added a double-double with 14 points and 13 boards in that outing.
