From staff reports

Warren Central completed its best summer girls basketball season ever Sunday by beating Forest Hill for the second time in as many days to win the gold medal at the State Games of Mississippi in Meridian.

The Lady Vikes, who feature three-time defending Vicksburg Post Player of the Year Sha’Kayla Caples and fellow senior point guard Karnina Bunch, finished the summer with a 29-1 record, a state AAU and league championship to go along with the State Games gold medal.

“I told our players after the game that the next gold medals we want around our neck are in March,” Fuller said of the state high school basketball tournament.

Warren Central beat Forest Hill 47-36 in the championship game on Sunday. Caples scored a team-high 14 points and Bunch added 11. WC led 27-14 at halftime.

To get to the championship game, Warren Central had to erase a 6-point second-half deficit to beat Newton 53-50. Caples led the Lady Vikes with 16 points and Ricille Davis netted 14. Dee Dee Eatmon scored eight in the victory.

In the eight games in Meridian, Warren Central connected on 38 3-pointers and Bunch had 23 treys.

“I felt like the kids got better throughout the summer,” Fuller said. “The main thing now is we have to build on this. …One of the things we wanted to concentrate on was to improve our defense and I think we did that.”

Warren Central, which played 30 games in 37 days, will have the rest of the summer off. The high school season begins in November and the Lady Vikes will be looking to advance out of the division after missing the state playoffs last year.