The Hancock Lady Hawks kept their undefeated season going by winning decisively over the hometown Ocean Springs Lady Greyhounds Tuesday night, 53-21.
All everything guard Brooklyn Cuevas led all scorers with 21 points, all coming from seven three-pointers. Lady Hawks head coach Jamie Sisco, left no bones about his team’s goal this season.
“Our goal is to win the state championship and to achieve this goal, we need to keep getting better and better between now and March,” he said. “At this point in the season, we are fairly happy with where we are. As a coaching staff, we probably won’t ever be completely satisfied with our team until we reach that ultimate goal. The one thing you can count on with our team is the tough, physical style of play we bring each night. We are extremely experienced with so many players returning so that is certainly a luxury to have as a coach.”
Ambriel Smith and Anslee James both chipped in 10 points for Hancock.
Ocean Springs had a hard time generating any offense going in the game, with only three players scoring points. Their coaching staff is dealing with the opposite of what Hancock has and that is a lot of youth.
“We are a young inexperienced team of mostly freshmen and sophomores,” said Lady Greyhound head coach LaShonda Smith. “The goal is to get better each day and play hard at all times. Starr Jackson is my only returning varsity starter from last season.”
And it just so happened that Jackson led Ocean Springs with 16 points 10 of those coming in the fourth quarter.
Hancock, now 8-0, will host George County on Friday night, while Ocean Springs falls to 2-6 and will host St. Martin on Friday night.
On the boy’s side, the game was an all-out battle with Ocean Springs prevailing 57-48.
Kaleb Bradley led Ocean Springs with 16 points, including five in the first quarter helping the Greyhounds to a 10-9 lead. The Greyhounds kept a slim lead for much of the first three quarters, with Hancock battling back to tie it at 34 after three quarters.
“It was a tough physical game and we didn’t play well offensively in the first half and that’s a credit to their defensive game plan,” said Colin Goley, who was facing the team in Hancock he had coached the three previous seasons. “It was back and forth all game and both teams hit big shots. In the fourth quarter, we were able to get the game going at our pace and scored 23 points in that quarter. I am proud of our guys for overcoming adversity early and finding a way to win.”
Bradley hit a critical three-pointer in the fourth quarter as Ocean Springs outscored Hancock 23-14 to seal the victory. Eli Isom also chipped in 10 points for Ocean Springs
The Hawks were able to play good defense to keep their team close, but the Greyhounds were able to hit three, three-pointers in the fourth to pull away.c
“We went into the game looking forward to the challenge,” said Hancock coach Conner Entriken. “They are a good team and very well coached. Our guys bought into the game plan and I felt like we did a good job guarding them for most of the game. We were there at the end of the game with a chance to win and Ocean Springs made some big plays down the stretch. I was proud of our guys and I am confident we will be better because of this game.”
Hancock’s Jude Ulrich led all scorers in the game with 17, including five three-point shots. Michael Washington also had 16 for the Hawks.
Ocean Springs, now 8-2, will host St. Martin Friday with 2-6 Hancock hosting George County.
