NATCHEZ Warren Central coach Donny Fuller has had more talented teams over the past six seasons. None, though, made it as far as this year’s group.

Behind a ferocious rebounding effort, Warren Central guaranteed itself a spot in the North State satellite game with a 62-52 win over archrival Vicksburg, a team WC lost to three times this season.

“(The regular season) doesn’t matter now,” said WC’s Ebon Williams, who had 16 points and 13 rebounds in the win. “This is the only one that counts.”

Warren Central will play at Natchez in Friday night’s Division 4-5A final. With a win, the Lady Vikes (13-16) will play at home in the satellite game.

“If you would have asked me, compared to last year’s bunch, which one of us would get out, I’d say last year’s,” Fuller said. “This is a group of kids that has worked hard and I think they really have improved.”

Cookie Johnson led the Lady Vikes with 23 points and 12 rebounds as Warren Central led almost the entire game.

“They were pulling down defensive rebounds like they were offensive and I thought that was really the turning point of the game,” Vicksburg coach Mike Coleman said. “… You could tell they were just hungry for it.

Senior Shalonda Williams led Vicksburg with a game-high 30 points and accounted for every VHS point 16 in the second and third quarters combined.

Warren Central took an 11-point lead into the fourth quarter before the Missy Gators got the deficit down to as little as four points with six minutes to play.

“I told our kids to settle down, we had the lead,” Fuller said. “We had to be patient, protect the basketball and run our press offense.”

Down eight with 2:16 left, Vicksburg senior Tricia Dart fouled out and 26 seconds later, Tiffany Hubbard fouled out.

“When Tiffany and Tricia fouled out, that was a big loss, to say the least,” Coleman said. “They are two of my best players, everyone knows that.”

Warren Central advanced out of the division in 1997 when it lost the division championship game to Vicksburg, but hasn’t been out since.

“We had a little heart-to-heart after the last Vicksburg game,” Fuller said. “… We’ll play whoever, it doesn’t matter.

“The bottom line is that we are playing for a division championship on Friday night.”