With football season winding down on the prep scene, basketball season is just beginning to take off.

All four local teams, including the three Pearl River County high schools, have already kicked off their hoops seasons with in the past week or so, and all have found some measure of success in the early going.

Picayune, the defending Class 4A South State champion, is under the direction of new head coach Daniel Kennedy who took over for veteran task master Dean Shaw, has the Maroon Tide off to a 2-1 start after three games in the Columbia Tournament last week.

Picayune began the season with a 56-45 win over Bassfield , and followed that with a close 58-52 loss to Columbia before bouncing back with a 49-39 win over Wayne County.

Against Wayne County, Brandon Fortenberry scored 13 points and Chris Dees added 11 for the Maroon Tide Ben Daly chipped in with 10.

Against Columbia, Dees had 18 and Michael Ulmer had 10 for Picayune.

The Picayune girls are 0-3 on the season, losing to Wayne County 59-16, falling to Columbia 62-34 and losing to Bassfield 69-52.

Poplarville began the season with a win on Tuesday over Vancleave.

The Hornets, fresh from the gridiron, moved on to the hardwood with a 67-62 win as Pierre Raine had 18 points, Lavelle Henry scored 15 and Ike Bowden added 11 for the winners.

The Lady Hornets won 63-57 to improve to 2-1 on the season as Larke Nightengale had 16 points and five steals for Poplarville. Brittany McCollum added 13 points and Lydia Alexis had 11 rebounds.

Pearl River Central boys beat Stone 58-54 on Tuesday to even their mark at 1-1 after falling to Forrest County AHS 75-74 in the opener.

Against Stone, Reginald Fowler scored 18 for PRC and Shaun Daniels had 16.

The PRC girls fell to Stone 63-41

Hancock’s boys fell to Ocean Springs 34-31 in their season opener on Monday.