Deshaundra Eatmon hit a pair of clutch 3-pointers in the fourth quarter as Warren Central held off feisty Clinton 71-60 in the Division 4-5A opener on Friday.

Clinton was down only three after Sha’Kayla Caples drained a pair of free throws.

Eatmon gave the struggling Lady Vikes (15-1, 1-0) the boost they needed, as her back-to-back 3-pointers gave them a 57-52 lead they did not relinquish.

Eatmon finished with 14 points, seven of them in the fourth, as Warren Central outscored Clinton 28-16 in the final quarter.

“In the first half, I thought we drug around kind of like we did against Forest Hill,” WC coach Donny Fuller said, in reference to his team’s loss in the JPS Tournament championship game on Tuesday night. “But I thought we had a great fourth quarter and we had some kids that really stepped up. DeDe Eatmon hit a couple of big threes for us when we really needed it.”

In the opening half, Clinton doubled and sometimes tripled Caples every time she touched the ball, forcing the rest of the Lady Vikes to step up. Despite the constant pressure, Caples still scored a game-high 29 points.

It also didn’t help matters that point guard Karnina Bunch and forward Ricille Davis were benched with two quick fouls, forcing Fuller to go to his bench early and often.

But it was the reserves that kept Warren Central in the contest. Kryshanna Howard scored eight points, six of them during a point in the first half when the Lady Vikes struggled to find any offense.

Howard drained a short jumper to give WC its biggest lead of the first quarter at 18-10.

Tomi Fuller also contributed some quality minutes off the bench with four points.

But in the second quarter, thanks to the efforts of former Warren County resident Antonekia Williams, the Lady Arrows (10-8, 0-1) erased the deficit. Williams, who is Bunch’s cousin, hit for 12 of her team-high 26 points in the second quarter as the Lady Arrows outscored their hosts 19-8 to earn a 31-28 lead at the half.

In the third quarter, the two clubs battled back and forth before Kim Montgomery swished a jumper and Williams converted a layup, but missed the free throw on a one-and-one as Clinton took a 46-43 lead into the fourth.

Warren Central got eight points from Davis and six from Bunch despite foul-limited minutes.

For Clinton, Shani Butler added 11 points and Ericka Robinson contributed 10 points.

WC boys topple Clinton, 58-51

Dino Harris scored a game-high 19 points to pace the Vikings to a victory in their division opener. Y’Tarrius Goldsberry added 11 points for Warren Central.

Jarvis Martin led Clinton (3-12) with 16 points and Leon Carr added 13.

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By Steve Wilson at swilson@vicksburgpost.com