The first part of the 2022-23 prep basketball campaign came to a close with the calendar flipping to a new year, and one local prep team finished the old year with a perfect record.
The Hancock Lady Hawks stand an outstanding 18-0 on the season, after winning a pair of games in the 6th annual Lady Indians Holiday Classic in Biloxi last week. Head coach Jamie Sisco’s squad knocked off Madison Central 49-35 on Wednesday and Clinton 53-49 on Thursday. D’Iberville and the host Biloxi squad were the only two teams from the “Southern Six” that also won both of its games in the 20-team, two-day affair. But the Lady Hawks dispatched both the Lady Warriors (49-20) and the Lady Indians (35-30) earlier in the month.
Hancock is also 1-0 in Region 8-6A action entering the week thanks to the win over Biloxi. Junior guard Brooklyn Couvas is the top gun for the Lady Hawks, as she scored 13 points, pulled down eight rebounds and dished out four assists in the win over Diberville while also having a big game in a 52-29 win over Pascagoula on the road in mid-December as she tallied a game-high 26 points, grabbed four boards and picked off three steals. Her point total in the win over the Lady Panthers is a season-high as well.
Other key players so far for this season for Hancock have been Telena Bond, who added 11 points in the win over Pascagoula, and Ansley James who scored nine points in the same game.
Senior Jenna Garriga joined Cuevas on the All-Tournament Team at the Pass Christian Round Robin event early in the season. The 5-foot-9 Cuevas also had 13 points to lead Hancock to a 61-11 blowout win over Moss Point earlier in the year, as well as scoring 24 points along with eight boards and six steals in a season-opening 43-16 win over West Harrison plus she enjoyed a 20-point outing in a 55-30 victory over Long Beach.
Also, she tallied 14 points to help lead Hancock to a 59-48 win over Presbyterian Christian this season, as well as scoring 13 points in a 51-15 win over Gautier.
The opening week of the new year, however, presents the Lady Hawks with perhaps their toughest two-game road slate in a five-day stretch so far this season as Hancock travels to home-standing Harrison Central on Tuesday night in Region 8-6A action and then on Saturday Sisco’s squad heads to Meridian to face West Jones in a tournament at Meridian High. The HCHS girls are 14-3 on the season while the WJHS Lady Mustangs stand 15-1 so far.
After facing West Jones over the weekend, Hancock will enjoy three games at home next week hosting both Gulfport and HCHS in league play as well as McGill-Toolen out of Mobile, Ala.
The Lady Hawks are coming off a 19-10 record last season and they advanced to the second round of the Class 6A South State playoffs after knocking off St. Martin in the opening round of the playoffs.
