Friday night’s game with Yazoo County was a prime time for a handful of Vicksburg High’s reserves to shine.

With top scorer Kelsey Howard out with a hip contusion, the Gators found relief from backups Jeremy Squire and Dominique Brown. Squire scored 10 first-quarter points to help Vicksburg ease past Yazoo County 62-35 in a key Division 3-4A game at VHS.

The win keeps Vicksburg tied for second in the eight-team division. It also gets them ready for today’s clash with ninth-ranked St. Stanislaus in the featured game of the Red Carpet Classic at 5:30 p.m.

“We had some new kids step up,” Vicksburg coach Dellie C. Robinson said. “Jeremy Squire played really well in the first half. Chris Miller made some shots in the second half and I thought Dominique Brown got us going.”

Yazoo County (5-18) helped out by leaving three starters home.

“We left three at home because of discipline,” said first-year Yazoo County coach Marlon Dorsey. Two years ago, the former Oklahoma State player was the coach at Greenville-Weston and his Hornets lost twice to the Gators that season. Dorsey said this year’s Gators are much better.

“You’re talking about one of the top 15 teams in the state,” Dorsey said. “We were totally overmatched. Vicksburg has size, quickness and they are very disciplined in what they do.”

For three quarters, the Panthers had more turnovers (18) than points (12). By then Vicksburg held a commanding 39-12 advantage. Robinson was able to clear his bench and didn’t even seem to mind that star sophomore Mychal Ammons fouled out with 5:32 remaining. Ammons had just seven points.

“I think it was a good thing we got guys like Ammons, (Denzell) Erves and Maurice (Williams) some rest. We’ve got a big game (today) with Stanislaus,” Robinson said.

After making just 4 of 21 field goal attempts in the first three quarters, Yazoo County began finding the goal against the Vicksburg reserves. DeAndre Scott scored all 14 of his points in the game’s final six minutes.

Brown answered with his best game of the season, with 10 points. Squire finished with 10 while Miller scored all of his team-high 12 points in the second half. Williams ended with nine points, five rebounds and five assists.

All five of Williams’ assists came in the first quarter as Squire knocked down his first four shots to stake Vicksburg to a 17-3 lead.

(G) Yazoo County 60, Vicksburg 31

Yazoo County, a Class 4A finalist last year, held the Missy Gators (8-11, 5-6) scoreless in the first quarter and went on to post the easy win. Vicksburg point guard Alexus Stirgus was limited to a quarter of action because of a sprained medial collateral ligament in her knee.

Kamiko Martin led Vicksburg with 17 points but did not get much help against the taller Lady Panthers. Tierra Kimble, a 6-foot-3 center, had 14 points to lead Yazoo County. Louise Collins had 11 and Audrey Swinney scored 10, all in the first half.

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Contact Jeff Byrd at jbyrd@vicksburgpost.com