MENDENHALL– Being the New Kids on the Block, the Forest Hillgirls and boys basketball teams made it a clean sweep of theDivision 6-4A regular season crowns. The Lady Rebels and Rebelswill draw an opening round bye in the upcoming 6-4A tournamentwhich gets under way Monday and runs through Friday atMendenhall.

Forest Hill previously resided in Class 5A. The Rebels, coachedby Clay Norton, were Class 5A runners-up to Jackson Provine.

In the girls division, the Lady Rebels await the Mendenhall-PortGibson winner Thursday at 4 p.m. The Lady Tigers are seeded fourthand the Lady Wave fifth.

Other opening round matchups include No. 2 Brookhaven and No. 7Lawrence County Tuesday at 4 p.m. The Lady Panthers, coached byFreda Craft and Chastity Sandifer, swept the Lady Cougars duringthe regular season; including Friday night’s 55-40 win in SinclairGym. No. 3 McComb tackles No. 6-Florence Tuesday at 7.

Forest Hill, coached by Tommy Groves, suffered its lone divisionsetback at the hands of McComb.

In the boys division, the Rebels went unblemished in their12-game division series. They will get the Brookhaven-Florencewinner Thursday at 5:30 p.m., in the semifinals. The Panthers,under the direction of Coaches Ronald Hines and Cliff Furr, take onthe Eagles Monday night at 7:30.

The champions in both divisions will automatically advance tothe opening round of the South State 4A tournament. They will hostthe fourth place teams out of Division 5-4A. That division includesNE Jones, South Jones, NE Lauderdale, Quitman, Laurel, West Jonesand Wayne County.