advance to 3-5A title game|[02/14/07]

GREENVILLE – For the first time this century and likely the last for the forseeable future, Vicksburg and Warren Central’s girls basketball teams will battle for the Division 3-5A title.

Vicksburg stamped its way to the title game with a 45-37 win over Madison Central in a game that saw the Missy Gators fall behind 18-2 in the second quarter before routing the Lady Jags.

Warren Central (21-8) got a game-high 21 points from sophomore Sha’Kayla Caples and 19 from senior Brittany Willis in taking down host Greenville-Weston 49-38, avenging an overtime loss to the Honey Bees in the North State tournament last season at Clinton.

The meeting Friday between the two will be the fourth this season and first for a division title since 1999 when Vicksburg, coached by current Louisiana Tech women’s head coach Chris Long, defeated its archrival for the crown.

&#8220We think this is the way it should be in the Vicksburg Warren School District,” WC coach Donny Fuller said. &#8220My (athletic director) likes it, so, you know.”

Since 1999, Warren Central has advanced out of division and into the state tournament every year, while Vicksburg will be making its first appearance in the championship game since ‘99. It will also be the last time the two will have the chance to play against one another for a league crown because next season the Missy Gators will drop to Class 4A for a minimum of two years.

In three meetings this season, Vicksburg won two from Warren Central including the championship of the early season Vicksburg Warren Classic in November.

&#8220It really doesn’t matter who we play,” said Vicksburg’s Keisha Collins, who led a spiritied Vicksburg comeback effort to take down Madison Central in Tuesday’s first game. &#8220We know we have to come out and play as a team. If we do that, everything will be all right.”

That may include starting better than they did on Tuesday.

Vicksburg trailed 16-2 at the end of the first quarter and Madison Central scored the next two points for an 18-2 lead.

The Missy Gators then held Madison scoreless for more than seven minutes, all the while chipping away at the deficit. Freshman Alexus Stirgus scored seven of her team-high 15 points in the second quarter and VHS went into halftime trailing by only two, 20-18.

&#8220Coach just told me to keep shooting, so I did, and then they started going in,” said Stirgus, who had four 3-pointers in the win.

Tiffany Williams added 12 points, including 10 in a second half that saw Vicksburg not only complete the comeback, but turn the game into a blowout.

Vicksburg increased the lead to 41-26 in the fourth quarter before the Lady Jags staged one final comeback with an 8-0 run. Madison Central could not get closer than seven the rest of the way.

Warren Central, meanwhile, led virtually the entire way, helped greatly when Greenville’s Brianna Lewis, the team’s best player, picked up her fourth foul three minutes into the second half.

&#8220I wasn’t surprised, I was grateful,” Fuller said of the Honey Bees keeping Lewis on the floor with three first-quarter fouls. &#8220She worries me to death because we have had trouble stopping her all year long.”

Lewis was held to nine points.

Greenville held Caples to six points in the first half, but the reigning Vicksburg Post Player of the Year went 7-for-7 from the field and 1-for-2 from the foul line in the second half to go along with her three steals and 11 rebounds.

Willis scored 12 of her 19 points in the first half. Shantta Taylor added nine in the victory.

(G) St. Aloysius 37, Dexter 13

Kayla Childress scored nine points to lead a balanced effort as St. Aloysius routed Dexter in the first round of the Division 7-1A Tournament.

Sarah Kerut and Elizabeth Mazzanti added seven points apiece for St. Al (19-8) and Bonney Neill scored six. St. Al led 21-3 at halftime and advanced to a semifinal game against West Lincoln Thursday at 7 p.m. at Salem.

Prep basketball playoffs

Division 3-5A, at Greenville

Tuesday

(G) Vicksburg 45, Madison Central 37

(G) Warren Central 49, Greenville 38

(B) Vicksburg 66, Warren Central 50

(B) Madison Central 51, Greenville 41

Friday

6 p.m. – (G) Vicksburg vs. WC

7:30 p.m. – (B) Vicksburg vs. Madison

Division 7-1A, at Salem

Tuesday

(G) St. Aloysius 37, Dexter 13

(B) St. Aloysius 58, Enterprise 30