[12/28/03]Warren Central fell victim to a second-half meltdown and lost to Canton in the quarterfinals of the Jackson Public Schools Tournament on Saturday, 68-44.

The Lady Vikes trailed by three points, 23-20, at halftime, but were outscored 20-8 in the third quarter and 28-13 in the fourth.

“They just outplayed us in the second half. We made mistakes and just didn’t play very smart,” WC coach Donny Fuller said.

Cookie Johnson led WC (10-5) with 10 points, while Tranyce Peoples, Ebon Williams and Carla Latham each had eight. Whitney Johnson had a game-high 24 points for Canton, LaTonya Anderson added 18 and Erica McElroy had 12.

WC will return to action on Jan. 6 when it hosts Forest Hill.

(G) VHS 61, Madison-St. Joe 38

Tiffany Hubbard scored 16 points to help Vicksburg High bounce back from an opening-round defeat at the Northwest Rankin Classic.

Kristin Ellis added 13 points and Erica Woodson had 10 for the Missy Gators (10-6), who led by six points at halftime but outscored the Lady Bruins 41-24 in the second half.

Vicksburg will face McLaurin in the fifth-place game Monday at 1:10 p.m. at Northwest Rankin.

(B) WC 94, McClain 88

Brian Phelps scored 23 points and Seddrick Williams added 21 as Warren Central (5-9) used a big second quarter and clutch free throw shooting down the stretch to hold off Lexington-McClain.

The Vikings scored 34 points in the second quarter to take a 49-38 lead at halftime.

They kept the lead around 10 points for most of the second half, and sealed the game with several late steals and a 14-for-18 performance from the foul line in the fourth quarter.

Jermaine Hodges led McClain with a game-high 32 points, and Ted Epps added 23.

Rashan Walker had 16 points for Warren Central.