‘We just want to win.’ A close-knit Coast basketball team is ready for redemption.
Harrison Central faced a tough Gulfport team on Friday night to end the regular season. The Admirals had taken coach Nancy Ladner’s team to the final minutes just a couple of weeks ago.
This time, Harrison Central clobbered Gulfport 75-33 in front of a loud senior night crowd. It was yet another display of overwhelming talent for the Red Rebels, who head into the postseason with a 24-2 record.
On this night, like many nights before it, it was a trio of standouts that carried the torch and led the way. Seniors Hayleigh Breland, Laila Walker and sophomore Anaisha Carriere combined to score 46 points.
They are Harrison Central’s Big Three and they bring a high level of energy and connectivity to the court each time they step out.
“We just want to win,” Breland told the Sun Herald. “We want to make it to the state championship and win it all. Energy is an important role on our team.”
Coming together
Walker played a key role on last year’s team that made it to Jackson but was sent back in the final four by Germantown.
Breland spent her first three years in high school at Stone County, but transferred south to Harrison Central for her senior season. Carriere has seen her role increase to a starring role on the team’s core as a rising talent.
It’s a perfect combination that has clicked together at just the right time.
“It made me realize that I have people that have my back,” Walker said. “Also, I know that besides me scoring, I know they’ll score. I have faith and trust in them to get points and rebounds. It all just powers into one thing.”
For Breland, a Jackson State commit, joining Walker and Carrier allowed her to open up her game and begin to flourish as a multi-tool point guard.
“At Stone, I had to be more of a scorer,” Breland said. “Here I can pass the ball, create for other players and just get ready for college.”
The youngest of the stars, Carriere, brings loads of potential to the table as a rebounding scorer and she’s beginning to fill out her game.
“She is very young but very talented,” Walker said. “She has a lot of potential and her career is going to take her very far.”
This group of girls have plenty to play for under Ladner and they’ve got hopes of bringing Harrison Central its first girls basketball title since 2005.
“One thing this year is we’ve had a lot of people step up,” Ladner said. “I think going to (Jackson) two years in a row and being denied, I think this is their senior year and they’ve got the attitude that they’re not going to be denied.”
Finding the chemistry
The three girls coming together all at once for a push at history takes more than just putting the necessary talent on the floor. Those skills and styles the trio bring also need to mesh together when it matters.
Thankfully for Ladner and Harrison Central, this year’s edition of the Red Rebels are a tight-knit group that can rarely be found separated from each other.
“The unique thing about this team is the chemistry,” Ladner said. “Where you see one (player), you see all of them. We’ll get off the bus after a game coming home and they go straight to eat together. Every weekend they go do things together... We don’t have little cliques, little clans. They’re all one big, happy family.”
That off-court chemistry has paid dividends in between the lines this season.
“We have a bond outside the court,” Walker said. “No matter what we go through, even though we look like a great team we do have ups and downs, but since our bond is so strong we know how to get back up.”
Breland and Walker will get to play together for at least one game at season’s end. Both accepted invites to participate in this year’s Mississippi-Alabama All Star game as one of only two pairs of teammates on either boy’s or girl’s teams.
Reclaiming the prize
Few teams show the fire and fun the Red Rebels display in their gym. It’s an important factor in keeping the ball rolling and staying consistent.
Harrison Central isn’t perfect and has losses to Hancock and Biloxi this year in region play. But the Red Rebels have also beaten both teams by double digits. The playoffs won’t afford them any extra chances.
“The one thing that’s going to make it is for us to keep playing consistent team ball and I think that’s what we’re doing,” Ladner said. “We share the ball well. I think we’re seeing the floor better and better. Our key to get there is to play with intensity.”
Winning games is just as much of a challenge as losing and requires a level of focus and resolve to stay on task. That’s where the team chemistry at Harrison Central begins to really work in the team’s favor.
“We push each other,” Walker said.
“Every day in practice we’re grinding,” Breland added. “We just keep that chip on our shoulder. Everybody against us.”
