Mississippi Coast sending big batch of teams to Jackson for hoops Final Four
South Mississippi will be sending seven teams to Jackson and one led by a coach making his final trip.
Seber Windham and his Biloxi Indians are back in the Final Four for the second year in a row after using a loud fourth quarter to erase a deficit and top Meridian, 55-39, in Friday’s quarterfinal at Pear River Community College.
Biloxi outscored the Wildcats 15-4 in the final period and 37-20 in the second half. Windham, who is retiring following season’s end, credited his team’s connectivity for overcoming a slow first half.
“The run just came at the right time,” Windham said. “At the end of the day, whenever you are not playing well that’s when you got to stick together. You can see my guys are close and they just stuck together when things weren’t going well. Then they finally made their run.”
Carnellous Lenard led with 18 points while Kentrell Beasley added 17.
Biloxi will have both programs on the road to the Mississippi Coliseum following the Lady Indians’ 22-point dismantling of Brandon, in which Jayla Carriere, Na’Kenya Terry and Zaniya Johnson all scored in double figures.
An All-Coast title game will be in play on the girls side of the 7A bracket thanks to the return of Harrison Central.
The Red Rebelettes survived a furious fourth quarter rally by Northwest Rankin and are back in the semifinals for the first time since making four straight trips from 2020-23.
Saniyah Murray scored 17 points in the 45-42 win and got 15 of them in the second half.
The storied program, under the guidance of second-year coach Sandra Rushing, is searching for its first title since 2005.
Harrison Central’s reward will be a date with Madison Central, a 78-59 winner over Tupelo.
Thursday
South Mississippi will be sending a new suitor to the Capital.
Our Lady Academy took down Jefferson County, 51-37, on Thursday to lock in the Crescents’ first-ever trip to the semifinal.
It was OLA’s seventh straight win in its first season to extend further than the second round of the postseason. St. Stanislaus followed by topping Port Gibson, 56-51, sending the once-dominant program back to familiar territory under the school’s all-time leading scorer, coach Danny Grieves.
It’ll be joined by at least two more Coast teams who won on Wednesday.
Wednesday
Pascagoula and Resurrection boy’s teams both handled business and punched their tickets to the Final Four. The Eagles handled Piney Woods 49-34 at Raymond High School while the Panthers outlasted Jim Hill, 74-60.
Mr. 6A Basketball Blake Nettles scored 24 of his 27 total points in the second half of Pascagoula’s hard-fought battle at Pearl River Community College.
The Panthers entered the fourth quarter trailing 50-48 but outscored the Tigers 26-10 in the period.
“Our key is work,” coach Lorenzo Wright told the Sun Herald after the game. “Blake Nettles, Ireyion Harvey, those two in particular because they’ve been with me for four years. They worked... This means everything, man. It means a lot.”
This will be Pascagoula’s third straight trip to the Mississippi Coliseum. It’ll be looking to go one step further than the previous two trips, which both ended in semifinal losses to Ridgeland.
Follow for live scores as they become available.
Wednesday, Feb. 25
6A Boys
- Terry 54, Hancock 48 (OT)
- Pascagoula 74, Jim Hill 60
6A Girls
- Forest Hill 41, Hancock 21
1A Boys
- Resurrection 49, Piney Woods 34
Thursday, Feb. 26
3A Boys
- St. Stanislaus 56, Port Gibson 51
3A Girls
- Our Lady Academy 51, Jefferson County 37
Friday, Feb. 27
7A Boys
- Northwest Rankin 59, Gulfport 50
- Biloxi 55, Meridian 39
7A Girls
- Harrison Central 45, Northwest Rankin 42
- Biloxi 55, Brandon 33
4A Boys
- Morton 50, Pass Christian 37
4A Girls
- Newton County 46, Moss Point 15
This story was originally published February 24, 2026 at 5:00 AM.
