At one point, more than halfway through the third quarter, Hancock led the Meridian girls basketball team 5-4. The Lady Wildcats then rattled off nine straight points, six of which came off steals, to take a 13-5 lead going into the second period. That set the tone for the rest of the contest, as Meridian came away with a 64-34 win in the second round of the MHSAA Class 6A playoffs Friday night. The win sets the Lady Wildcats up with a road game against Pearl Monday evening, the same team that eliminated Meridian from the postseason just a year ago. Head coach Deneshia Faulkner said while it wasn’t a completely clean game, the big lead allowed her to go to her bench and give her backups some needed experience. “We still have a lot to work on, but I think we’re in a good place right now,” Faulkner said. “The biggest thing is we were able to get some younger kids in there — we had three eighth-graders that were able to come in — and they gave us some good minutes.” TyMesha Reed, who finished the game with nine points, said the team’s energy level allowed it to eventually break out of the early game funk. “Everybody put in a lot of energy and came out with a lot of effort,” Reed said. “The bench came playing hard and did what they had to do.” Meridian built a 26-9 halftime lead thanks to a stifling defense that allowed just two field goals by Hancock in the second quarter. The Lady Wildcats pressed for much of the first half, which gave the Lady Hawks fits at times. “Right now I think Hancock is just a young team, so I won’t take all of the credit for that,” Faulkner said. “I guess I’m just that coach, but I’m standing over there going crazy (while we’re) up by 30 because I see a lot of stuff that we’re not doing that we’re supposed to be doing. My girls played hard, but Hancock has a really good coach and a good team, they’re just young right now, so a lot of it is credited to that.” After extending its lead to 43-20 at the end of the third quarter, Meridian was able to take all of its starters out with 3:56 left in the game up 55-35 after regularly subbing in backups since the second quarter. Ti’Ian Boler led Meridian in scoring with 17 points, and Arianna Patton chipped in with 12 points. Kerianna Toole had eight points, Syria Walker scored five points and Brianna Parker finished with four. Tyana Clark scored three, and Jamiah King and Jaloria Hudson both had two points each. The Lady Wildcats face a tall task traveling to Pearl Monday, as the Lady Pirates stand at 28-1 on the season after defeating Harrison Central 73-62 Friday evening in the second round. With Pearl being the team that eliminated Meridian last year, Reed said there is a little extra emotion going into this game, but the players will have to keep relying on the same things that got them this far. “Everybody has to come in and do what they have to do, and the subs will have to come in and go hard,” Reed said. “We prepared for this.” In Faulkner’s mind, success doesn’t come down to doing anything new. “Right now, the thing I’m telling my girls is, it’s all about how well you go out there and do what you know how to do,” Faulkner said. “We’ve practiced since March, we’ve played an entire season just about, so there’s nothing new. There’s nothing they can learn right now. Right now, it’s all about executing.”