The summer win total reached 20 Monday night for the Warren Central Lady Vikes basketball team.

Coach Donny Fuller’s team easily dispatched visiting Ridgeland and Jackson Prep in Central Mississippi League action at WC to move to 20-1 for the summer. On Thursday, the Lady Vikes depart for Meridian and the State Games of Mississippi where they hope to defend their 2007 gold medal.

“From what I’ve heard it’s going to be 13 teams divided into two pools and they’ll take the top two out of each pool to go to the medal round on Sunday,” Fuller said. “We’ll probably play one on Thursday, two Friday and three on Saturday and then hope to get to Sunday.”

While the number of teams is down from previous State Games, the quality is still there.

“Forest Hill is coming with us from our league and then they’ll also have Wayne County, Columbus, Meridian, Northeast Jones and Northeast Lauderdale. It’s something we look forward to each year. I think us and Meridian are the only two schools to have played in every one of the State Games,” Fuller said.

Wayne County and Northeast Jones have both won Class 4A championships in recent years, while Meridian made back-to-back appearances in the Class 5A finals in 2005 and 2006.

Southeast Lauderdale, the defending Class 3A champ, is not in the field at the State Games. The Lady Tigers lost to Warren Central in last year’s gold medal game at Meridian Community College’s Ivy Sports Center.

Fuller likes how his team has responded. On Wednesday, they will have a chance to avenge their only loss of the summer when they take on the Hinds AHS Lady War Dawgs.

“The one loss to Hinds, was my fault. I played my younger girls a little too long. We had a 12-point lead and then they came back and banked in a 3-pointer,” Fuller said. “We’ve gotten a lot better. Our younger players have gotten better and that’s where we came into the summer wanting to do. I think we now have several girls who have a good chance to get to play this year.”

Having three-time Vicksburg Post Player of the Year Sha’Kayla Caples back doesn’t hurt either. Caples helped lead the Lady Vikes to the AAU state championship in late May. Rising senior point guard Karnina Bunch is another potent force for Warren Central.

Fuller, though, says his other veterans in center Bailey Anderton, forward Ricille Davis and guards Dee Dee Eatmon and Quandra Kilbert have made strides.

“We’ve gone 13-1 in our league and we’ll host the league tournament finals here on the Wednesday (July 2) after we get back,” Fuller added.