A 16-year-old Hancock High School student was killed early Friday morning in a single-vehicle accident on Caesar-Necaise Road.

The news of the tragic death quickly sent shock waves through the school and community as well.

According to Hancock County Sheriff Steve Garber, Heather Woodard, 16, was traveling to school on Caesar-Necaise Road when she lost control of the truck she was driving and slid off into a creek bed.

Sheriff’s officials said Woodard had just recently gotten her driver’s license.

She was taken to Crosby Memorial Hospital in Picayune and pronounced dead at 8:20 a.m., Garber said.

Woodard was a tenth grader at Hancock High School. This was her first year at the school after transfering there from Pearl River Central. She was a member of the Lady Hawks basketball team.

Superintendent David Kopf said all of the students and faculty are very saddened by the news.

“We are all grief stricken,” he said. “Everyone who knew Heather said she was a wonderful young lady with a great personality. This is just a nightmare you never want to happen. Our thoughts and prayers go out to her family and friends.”