West Harrison boys, girls rally past Biloxi for dramatic wins

GULFPORT - The West Harrison girls and boys basketball teams both erased halftime deficits to pick up wins over Biloxi Tuesday night.

The West Harrison boys' win was the most dramatic of the night after Biloxi led 20-2 with just under a minute left in the first quarter. The Hurricanes gradually cut into the lead and senior Gabriel Barber scored 10 fourth-quarter points to lead the Hurricanes to a 58-57 victory.

Barber, who finished with 14 points, gave West Harrison its first lead of the game at 48-47 on a 3-pointer with 3:48 remaining.

Biloxi answered with a 6-0 run to regain the lead at 53-48 with 2:06 left, but West Harrison followed with a 6-1 run, including a steal and a basket by Barber with 25 seconds remaining to give the Hurricanes a 56-54 advantage.

"He's been playing with energy all year," West Harrison coach Milton Ray said of Barber. "He's been actually our best player all year. He's been giving everything he has. He said he just wants to win. It's his senior year and he's playing great for us."

A pair of free throws by West Harrison's Desmond McDaniel made it 58-54 with 7.4 left and that proved enough to preserve the victory for the Hurricanes (2-3).

The Hurricanes showed a great deal of maturity by managing to get through its early struggles in the game.

"We told them don't look at the scoreboard. We've just got to give everything or nothing," Ray said. "If you're not going to give your everything, don't play. We asked them to cut every corner.

"They did everything I asked them to do. The young guys stepped up."

Senior point guard Deanthony Bowie led West Harrison (2-3) with 15 points and junior Quieran Gray added 12.

"We know what winning is like," Bowie said. "We're not losers no matter how many games we lose. We kept fighting and fighting. Our motto from now on is, 'All or nothing.'"

Biloxi hit four first-quarter 3-pointers to build a 20-8 lead after eight minutes, but the Indians cooled off as the game wore on.

"We tried to get it out of their shooters' hands," Ray said. "We told them that when the guys started to dribble, go at it and get it out of their hands and rotate to the shooters. We tried to get the big boys the ball."'

Senior Jadarius Holloway led Biloxi with 16 points. Marques McGee added 10 and Jordan Lewis had 14 for the Indians (1-1).

West Harrison girls 56, Biloxi 38: After sitting out the majority of the first half due to foul trouble, senior center Ameshya Williams returned to help the Hurricanes put up a whopping 30 points in the third quarter Tuesday.

Williams suffered a pair of fouls in the first minute of the game and sat on the bench the rest of the first half. In the third quarter, Williams scored 12 points and her sister, junior forward Dwaynna Kennedy, added 10.

Williams finished with 16 points, all in the second half, and Kennedy led the Hurricanes (5-0) with 19 points.

"We're growing and that's what we've got to do," West Harrison coach Otis Gates said. "We've got to continue to grow so when February gets here, we're playing the best we can play."

Biloxi, which led 21-16 at halftime, fell to 2-2 with the loss. Alexis McDaniel had nine points to lead the Lady Indians.

This story was originally published November 17, 2015 at 11:23 PM with the headline "West Harrison boys, girls rally past Biloxi for dramatic wins ."