There will be a familiar face on the sidelines tonight when Pearl River Central’s girls take on Our Lady Academy here at Brother Philip Gym.

Only that familiar face will be on the other bench.

Veteran local coach Donna Spiers is in her first year at the helm of the Lady Crescent basketball squad. She spent the past four seasons at PRC after spending over two decades at Picayune.

“Things are going pretty well,” Spiers, who retired from the public school system after last school year, said. “I wasn’t expecting to be coaching this year, and we haven’t won as much as I’d like to but I have a good little group of girls.”

It was Spiers’ intention to retire last season after her daughter Leslie’s senior year at PRC and for her and her family to move back to north Mississippi to be close to her aging parents.

But Spiers’ husband, who works at NASA, wasn’t able to secure other employment and that necessitated a change in their plans.

“Once we realized we were still going to be here, I saw where this job was open and I went and talked to them and it worked out,” Spiers added. “I don’t know how long it will last, because we are still planning on moving, but I’ll finish out the year and then we’ll take another look.”

Spiers and her team will be facing PRC head coach Kevin Harris, who replaced her at the helm of the Lady Devils.

Neither team has been real successful this season, as OLA stands 4-11 and PRC is 4-12.

Following the girls game will be a Division 8-4A showdown between PRC and homestanding and league leading St. Stanislaus.

The Rockachaws are 7-0 in league play and 16-3 overall and ranked ninth in the state and are coming off a 69-27 pounding of Picayune on Tuesday night at home.

The Blue Devils stand 2-3 in the league and 6-10 overall and are coming off a loss last Friday to Picayune.

Both PRC teams are going through a bit of a slow period thanks to the schedule. Tonight’s game will be just the third in the past two weeks for both the Blue Devils and the Lady Devils.

In addition, the contest will mark just the third game in the past four weeks for the PRC boys, who are under the direction of first year head coach Austin Alexander.

• In other local prep basketball action tonight, both Picayune teams travel to Long Beach for Division 8-4A encounters also.