Rivals Gulfport and Harrison Central met Friday evening on the hardwood in the Region 4-7A opener for both schools.
The unbeaten Red Rebelettes remained perfect on the season with a 50-41 win over the Lady Admirals, while the Red Rebels made it a clean sweep with a 57-39 win over the Admirals.
Aujaylen Barron poured in 19 points to lead the Red Rebels to victory in the boy’s game.
Harrison Central (5-4, 1-0 in 4-7A) led 23-20 at the half and was up 37-30 after three quarters. But the Red Rebels pulled away in the final quarter outscoring the Admails 20-9 for the win.
Shaun Murray was also in double digits for the Red Rebels with 15 points.
The Admirals (3-3, 0-1 in 4-7A) were led by senior Amir Abdul-Rauf with 17 points.
Red Rebels head coach Boo Hardy was pleased with the victory and the way his team played, especially after getting blown out 54-27 at Pascagoula earlier this week.
“It was important to get that first region win, especially after the way we played against Pascagoula,” said Hardy. “We talked this week about playing good team ball together and trusting our defensive play as well. We just have to take it one game at a time.”
The Red Rebels will look to keep that momentum going Tuesday when they host Biloxi in another region matchup.
“They’re going to play hard and be sound on the defensive end,” said Hardy of the Indians. “We expect them to play hard for Coach (Seber) Windham.”
In the girl’s game, senior Larissa Hubbard, the 228 Sports Female Player of the Week, pumped in a game-high 22 points to lead the Red Rebelettes to victory.
Harrison Central (10-0, 1-0 in 4-7A) jumped out to an 18-8 first-quarter lead over the Lady Admirals (1-6, 0-1 in 4-7A) and never looked back.
Gulfport outscored HC 15-10 in the second quarter but trailed 28-23 at the half.
The Lady Admirals kept the game close in the third quarter, outscoring the Red Rebelettes 11-10, but were down 38-34 going into the fourth quarter.
In the final quarter, Harrison Central pulled away with a 12-7 margin to take the win.
Freshman Jayla Carriere was also in double figures for HC with 12 points, while her sister Anaisha Carriere and Saniyah Murray both finished with five points.
Maegan Cooks paced Gulfport with 9 points, while Shamiya Walker and Trinity Moore both had 8 points.
Gulfport will host region foe St. Martin on Tuesday. The girls action begins at 6 p.m., followed by the boy’s contest.
