Warren Central’s Carla Latham goes in for a layup early in the Lady Vikes’ 65-38 win on Thursday. (Meredith SpencerThe Vicksburg Post)

[12/3/04]Warren Central did everything necessary to beat Jim Hill in the first half on Thursday, except put the Lady Tigers away on the scoreboard.

WC used the third quarter to take care of that.

The Lady Vikes started the second half with a 13-1 run, holding Jim Hill without a field goal for the first 6 1/2 minutes of the third quarter, and cruised to a 65-38 victory in the first round of the Warren Central Classic.

“We played really well in the second half, overall,” WC coach Donny Fuller said. “I felt pretty good about the way we played. I was worried, because Jim Hill is a much-improved basketball team.”

Cookie Johnson led the Lady Vikes with 16 points and Carla Latham had 10. Brigit Taylor had nine points and 13 rebounds for Jim Hill (4-3).

WC (7-2) advanced to today’s championship game against Provine, which beat the Lady Vikes 60-50 in the Coca-Cola Classic in November. The Lady Vikes and Lady Rams will tangle at 7 p.m. at WC.

“They’ve got a decent team. They go about 10 or 12 deep, and they’re quick as they can be,” Fuller said. “They don’t have great size, but they’ve got great quickness and we’ve got to figure out a way to slow them down a little bit.”

Warren Central forced 22 turnovers in the first half against Hill, but lost its shooting touch in the second quarter and led 28-20 at halftime. After hitting five of its first six shots, WC closed the half in a 4-for-17 funk.

The shooting improved a little in the third quarter and Jim Hill didn’t, allowing the Lady Vikes to take control.

Using a smothering press, WC barely allowed a shot in the period. Jim Hill made one free throw, but no field goals until NeAisha Anderson’s 3-pointer with 1:35 to play. It was Jim Hill’s only basket of the quarter.

By then, WC was ahead 41-24. A 7-0 run to start the fourth pushed the lead over 20 points, and the Lady Vikes rolled from there.

“We turned up our defensive pressure a little bit, got some turnovers and got on a little run. And when we did, it just kind of snowballed,” Fuller said.

(B) Jim Hill 76, WC 62

Jim Hill buried Warren Central under an avalanche of 3-pointers.

The Tigers hit 13 threes including 10 in the first half and advanced to the boys’ championship game of the Warren Central Classic with a rout of the Vikings.

“That’s a major part of our offense. We like to shoot the ball,” Jim Hill coach Fred Harris, a former Vicksburg High star, said of the Tigers’ outside game. “When we’re shooting pretty good, like we were tonight, we’re a pretty good team.”

Flawaan Flaggs did most of the Tigers’ damage from outside, hitting six treys to finish with 18 points. Sollie Norwood had 21 points, with five 3-pointers, and Tony Hobson scored 19.

Chico Hunter led WC with 24 points and seven rebounds, Cody Grant had 12 points and Shon Ester had nine.

WC (5-4) will play in the consolation game today at 5:30 p.m. against crosstown rival Vicksburg High. The Gators lost to Provine 48-45 in the other first-round game.

Although WC and VHS will meet twice more this season in division play, WC coach Jesse Johnson said it would be hard to pick up a lot of scouting tips from today’s game.

“I looked at them when they played tonight, but when we play them it’s a whole different game,” Johnson said. “It really does no good to scout them, because it’s going to be an entirely different team when we play them.”

Jim Hill jumped out to a big lead early against the Vikings, hitting six 3-pointers in the first quarter to open a 23-10 advantage. The Tigers’ first 12 points were scored on 3-pointers, and 14 of their first 20 shots came from behind the arc.

“When you hit that many threes, it can just demoralize (opponents),” Harris said.

Jim Hill led 43-26 at halftime, but got away from the three-ball midway through the second quarter. That allowed the Vikings to stay in the game for a bit, and they made a run at the start of the second half to whittle the deficit to 47-36.

Then, with about four minutes to play in the third quarter, things unraveled for WC. Hunter picked up his third foul on a layup attempt by Hobson, who hit both free throws. Flaggs followed with a 3-pointer, and he and Norwood each hit one in the final minute of the period to cap a 15-4 run and give Jim Hill a 62-40 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

“We were trying to get back in it, and we took ourselves out of it,” Hunter said. “We can’t wait until the second half to start playing these guys.”