The top four seeds for the upcoming region tournaments in Class 5A in the “Southern Six” have all been decided after a quartet of local teams all finished a perfect 6-0 in league play this season.
The George County Rebels and Picayune Maroon Tide as well as the Gauier and West Harrison girls all completed their respective region races undefeated with wins on Friday night as league play wrapped up in anticipation of the upcoming postseason tourneys.
In Lucedale Friday night, the Rebels of GCHS and the Lady Gators of GHS both reaffirmed their hold on the top spots in Region 8-5A, as George County won the boys’ game 52-45 over GHS and the Gautier girls beat the Lady Rebels 61-31.
For the Rebels, who won their seventh straight game, Tyler Henry guided George County with a game-high 14 points including four 3-pointers. Marlin Odom added 12 points to the winning effort and Deuce Knight chipped in 11 points as the GCHS boys moved to 12-7 overall on the season.
Quincy Roberts tallied 13 for Gautier and Cayden Willis added 11 points. The Gators finished 4-2 in region play and stand 8-16 overall. Gautier will be the second seed behind the Rebels in the region tournament.
The Lady Gators jumped out to a commanding 21-3 advantage after the first quarter in their game and then cruised to the win to move them to 14-10 overall in addition to the unbeaten mark in league play. Brandi Martin guided Gautier with a game-high 15 points, including three 3-pointers, while a trio of Gautier girls added nine points apiece to the winning cause in twins Aayaliah McSwain and Alyssah McSwain as well as Kamri Walker.
The Gautier girls have now won seven straight games as well and haven’t lost since the calendar flipped from 2022 to 2023.
Taleah Daniels led GCHS with 12 points while Dakari McNair added nine points for the Lady Rebels who stand 5-16 overall but more importantly finish an even 3-3 in league play and will finish as the third seed for region tourney purposes.
George County will host the Region 8-5A Tournament beginning the week of Monday, Feb. 7th. Before that though, both GCHS squads will travel to Perry Central on Thursday and then host arch-rival Greene County on Friday.
Meanwhile, both Gautier squads visit arch-rival Pascagoula on Tuesday before hosting Gulfport on Friday to close out the regular season.
In Region 7-5A, the Maroon Tide wrapped up the top seed with a 63-25 win over visiting Long Beach Friday night. The win was the seventh straight at that point for the Picayune boys.
Josh Holmes tallied a game-high 20 points in the win for Picayune and Troy Carter added 16 points as the Maroon Tide finished 6-0 in the region race.
Long Beach will host the Region 7-5A tourney beginning the week of Monday, Feb. 7th. Before that though, the Picayune squads travel to Bay High Tuesday and then host Hancock on Friday while both Long Beach boys wrap up region and regular season action Tuesday at home against Pearl River Central.
The West Harrison girls also clinched the top seed in the Region 7-5A Tournament, as they knocked off home-standing Pearl River Central in Carriere Friday night 42-23.
The Lady Hurricanes moved to 17-7 Overall and a perfect 6-0 in league play as they recorded their 11th consecutive win. Sophomore Forward Miranda Parker posted a double-double with 13 points and 13 rebounds for West Harrison, while senior forward Taylor Hopgood chipped in 11 points, seven rebounds, six assists, and three blocks for the Lady Canes. PRC was led by Senior guard Hannah Mitchell with 10 points.
The Hurricanes beat the Blue Devils 54-37 to make it a clean sweep on the night for West Harrison.
The Region 7-5A Tournament will take place at Long Beach beginning the week of Monday, Feb. 7th. Before that though, the West Harrison squads will host St, Martin on Tuesday and then host Harrison Central on Friday.
After both PRC squads travel to Long Beach to wrap region action on Tuesday, they then return home to end the regular season vs. pass Christian on Friday.
