Vicksburg moves closer to claiming Raymond championship

Published 12:00 am Friday, December 31, 2004

[12/29/04]RAYMOND The holidays have seen the Vicksburg Missy Gators playing some of their best basketball of the season.

With Tuesday night’s 60-41 spanking of Raymond, the Missy Gators are now one win away from claiming the Raymond Holiday Round Robin Tournament. Vicksburg, now 10-8, will face Ridgeland today at 4 p.m. for the tournament title.

“This makes four straight and five out of our last six,” VHS coach Mike Coleman said. “We changed some things on defense. We quit gambling so much on trying to shut down the 3-pointers.”

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Vicksburg relied on a solid zone defense to frustrate Raymond. The Lady Rangers’ two top scorers, Kayla Robinson and Joan Taylor, had just two points in the second half.

“Kristin Ellis did a good job in dropping down to front their big girl. That kept them from scoring in the block,” Coleman said.

Robinson had scored two straight baskets to pull her team to within three of the Missy Gators with time winding down in the first half.

Vicksburg, however, grabbed the momentum when Cre’Tarsha Taylor banked in a 3-pointer at the horn to give the Missy Gators a 29-23 halftime lead.

The second half saw Jazmin Johnson spark the club with 10 second-half points. Vicksburg closed out the third quarter on a 7-2 run keyed by a 3-pointer from Johnson along with a driving basket from Kendra Sims to go up 46-32.

Johnson then added another long-range trey extending the Vicksburg lead to 51-32. Raymond, 2-12, offered little fight after the basket.

“What I like is that we seem to have different leaders every night,” Coleman said. “We’re getting that all-around team effort.”

Rachel Jenkins paced Vicksburg with 14 points, while Sims had 13 followed by Taylor with 12 and Johnson with 10.

(B) VHS 72, Raymond 56

The Gators scored 17 straight points in a key stretch in the third quarter to turn back Raymond in the boys nightcap game of the Raymond Holiday Round Robin Tournament.

Freshman Jonathan Phelps was a catalyst in the surge with a pair of 3-pointers. He finished with a game-high 17 points.

Brandon Harper had six of his 10 points in the run which turned a slim two-point Gator lead into a 53-34 advantage with 30 seconds to go in the third quarter.

Raymond (5-9) got to within 12 early in the fourth quarter, but Sederick Williams made 6-of-6 free throws to seal the Vicksburg win. Williams ended with 16 points.

Vicksburg improved to 10-8 and will wrap up the four-team round robin against Ridgeland today at 5:30.

Edwin Gaskin had 11 for the Gators. Bennie Funchess and Darryl Moore each had 15 for Raymond.