For one half, there was only one Dandy Dozen player on the floor as Greenville-Weston’s Breanna Lewis held sway while Warren Central’s Sha’Kayla Caples sat in coach Donny Fuller’s doghouse.

When Caples did enter the key Division 4-5A contest, she turned the ball over three straight times, but thanks to fellow Lady Vike senior Karnina Bunch, the visiting Honey Bees were unable to deliver a knockout punch. Instead, it was third-ranked WC who knocked the Honey Bees out with a huge fourth quarter.

Bunch drained seven 3-pointers to lead Warren Central past Greenville-Weston 60-42 to remain in first place in the division.

“We just had a real good second half,” Bunch said. “In the fourth quarter, we started making everything. Caples did real good and DeDe (Eatmon) did a great job on defense.”

Through three quarters, WC (18-2, 3-0) had just 29 points. The Lady Vikes made 10 of 39 shots in that time, and with Caples out, Greenville-Weston (13-5, 2-1) led 35-29. In the fourth quarter, Caples made all six of her shots from the field, along with four free throws, while Bunch scored 11 of her 27 to power a 31-point fourth quarter.

“We played great in the second half and though DeDe scored only four points, she did a tremendous job on defense against Lewis. She got her points, but DeDe made her work awfully hard for everyone of them,” Fuller said.

Lewis, a Dandy Dozen guard, was 0-for-6 from the 3-point line in the first half. The Honeybees, however, did score the last six points of the second quarter to go up 23-18 at the half. They were still up six after three quarters.

With 5:16 left, Caples made two free throws to pull WC within one at 35-34. After a walk, one of eight Greenville-Weston turnovers in the fourth quarter, WC grabbed its first lead since the second quarter when Caples dropped in a 17-footer.

Eatmon followed with a quick steal under the basket and made the layup to put WC up three at 38-35. After a free throw by Breanna Wright, Bunch drained her sixth 3-pointer of the game to make it 41-36.

Lewis missed a shot from the key and Caples grabbed the rebound and went straight to the bucket, making the shot and drawing a foul.

The 3-point play made it 44-36 and sent WC’s Senior Night crowd into a frenzy.

“Our crowd was really great tonight. We got on fire and we were able to feed off our crowd,” Fuller said.

Lewis, who had 18 points, made her last basket on a 3-pointer with 1:33 to go. Bunch came back with two free throws to ignite an 11-0 run to close out the game.

Caples finished with 19 points. Eatmon had six steals and four assists to go with four points.

Greenville boys nip WC, 50-44

The Vikings (3-14, 1-2) took a 39-38 lead into the fourth quarter but couldn’t hold on to an upset of the Class 5A runners-up from last March. Robert Williams led the Hornets (17-3, 2-1) with 24 points. He was the only Greenville-Weston player in double figures.

Malculm Harper led Warren Central with 16 points while Dino Harris and Y’Tarrius Goldsberry had nine each.

The Vikings trailed 25-14 at the half but scored 25 in the third quarter to take a one-point lead.

*

Contact Jeff Byrd at jbyrd@vicksburgpost.com