In the past week, Vicksburg coach Dellie C. Robinson has seen his team beat two coaches with a combined 14 state championships.

On Friday, the Gators came up with an air-tight defensive effort in the fourth quarter to beat Yazoo City and coach Archie Carlyle, 50-44.

The win was huge for the Gators (15-5) because it concludes the first half of the Division 3-4A round-robin schedule with a 5-2 record and a share of second place with Lanier. Yazoo City, which entered the game tied with VHS for third in the division at 4-2, slipped to 4-3 and 10-10 overall.

“I thought that was best fourth quarter defense we’ve played all year,” Robinson said of his Gators, who forced eight fourth-quarter turnovers by the Indians. “We stepped it up in the fourth quarter. That’s something we’ve been wanting to do because that’s where we’ve lost our games this season.”

The win was the third straight to begin the new year and the Gators will go for No. 4 this afternoon when they travel to meet archrival Warren Central at 2:30. The girls tip off at 1.

Carlyle, who has won six state championships combined at Benton, Yazoo County and Yazoo City, said turnovers against VHS’ three-quarter court trap was the difference.

“We didn’t take care of the ball. We just got in a rush, for some reason. They (Vicksburg) are pretty tough, but we missed our opportunities,” Carlyle said.

The Indians took advantage of a dead second period by the Gators to turn a 22-13 deficit into a 17-0 run to close out the quarter and take a 30-22 halftime lead. The Gators missed their last nine shots of the quarter to go with five straight misses from the free throw line.

“Oh man, we had that one bad quarter again,” Robinson said. “If we can hit a free throw, maybe we can stop that run.”

The Gators were a different team in the third quarter. Jonathan Phelps got back in gear, ending the seven-minute drought with two free throws with 6 minutes, 51 seconds left in the quarter. Kelsey Howard dropped in a pair of 3-pointers and Phelps added one of his own to tie the game at 37. Howard then found a wide open Mychal Ammons for a layup to put the Gators ahead for good.

Two baskets by John Qualls in between two drawn charges by the Gator defense put the Gators up 45-39. They went up eight with 1:32 left before Thomas Winter hit three free throws to make it 49-44 with 49 seconds left.

Ammons hit a free throw with 20.3 seconds to seal it.

Phelps ended with 22 points for the Gators.

(G) Yazoo City 54, VHS 49

The Missy Gators blew a 17-point third-quarter lead after turning the ball over 24 times in the second half against Yazoo City.

Vicksburg (8-12, 2-5) made six of its first seven shots to begin the third quarter to go ahead 36-19 with 4:06 left in the period. Then Yazoo City (11-9, 4-3) went to a half-court trap and the wheels fell off the Missy Gator wagon.

Yazoo City cut the lead by nine by the quarter’s end to trail 43-35. They then went on an 10-2 run to begin the fourth quarter to take the lead at 46-45. Vicksburg never got it back. The Lady Indians hit 5 of 6 free throws in the final 45 seconds to seal the win.

Shanikra McCullum had seven of her 11 points in the fourth quarter to key the decisive fourth-quarter run.

(B) PCA 89, Mount Salus 70

Matt Cranfield hit six 3-pointers and finished with 22 points to lead Porters Chapel to a road district win in Clinton.

The Eagles (8-3, 7-3 District 5-A) outscored Mount Salus 20-7 in the third quarter to break a 46-46 halftime tie. Jacob Rachal led PCA with 23 points and Brad Pennington had 17.

(G) PCA 33, Mount Salus 14

The Lady Eagles won their third game of the season despite the loss of their leading scorer in Shelby Wells, who went down with a twisted ankle, and had just two points. Paige Moore and Erin Purvis helped step up to take up the scoring load. Moore ended with 12 points and Purvis scored nine for PCA (3-11, 3-7).