Much like last Saturday’s division opener at Warren Central, the Missy Gators played well at the start and struggled in the middle. At the end, Montevallo signee Donyeah Mayfield made four free throws in the final 14.3 seconds to lift Vicksburg past Greenville-Weston, 54-47.

Vicksburg improved to 2-0 in Division 4-6A play and 6-3 overall. The loss was the division opener for the Honey Bees (5-6, 0-1).

Vicksburg coach Barbara Hartzog said her team responded at the right time.

“To be 2-0 is a good start for the division,” Hartzog said. “We just need to finish better. We will play well early and get comfortable and that allows our opponent to catch up. I’d like to see us play a steady game.”

The Missy Gators led the whole game. They were up 12 after one quarter at 20-8, and nine at the half at 30-21.

Senior point guard Shanequa Hill had a huge game for Vicksburg. She scored 19 points, grabbed nine rebounds and passed out nine assists.

“We’ve improved our free throw shooting over the last few weeks,” Hill said. “We feel we have a good team. It could be better. We’ve learned to work around each other’s games.”

The Honey Bees chipped away at the Vicksburg margin in the third quarter by getting the ball inside to senior center Brianna Wright. She scored five points in the quarter and also drew a third foul on Mayfield.

“The foul trouble with Donyeah, was the big thing we had to deal with,” Hartzog said.

The Missy Gators responded with Aleeshah Smith and Shaniqua Butler hitting consecutive 3-pointers to open the fourth quarter and build the lead to nine at 45-36.

“Those two shots put us right back to nine,” Hartzog said. “Aleeshah has been stepping up big for us in the past few games.”

The Honey Bees wouldn’t go away. They trimmed the margin down to three at 47-44 with two minutes to play. Two offensive rebounds by Shavedra Farris resulted in foul shots. She made two of the four to expand the Vicksburg lead to five, 49-44, with a minute left.

Greenville-Weston closed the lead to three, 50-47, with 16.5 seconds left. But the Honey Bees fouled Mayfield on the inbounds and the senior Missy Gator swished both from the free throw line to seal the victory.

Mayfield finished with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Wright led the Honey Bees with 15 points.

(B) Vicksburg 93, Greenville-Weston 50

Mychal Ammons poured in 35 points and Willie Gibbs had 17 as the Gators moved to 2-0 in Division 4-6A in a warmup for Monday’s battle with top-ranked Meridian.

The Hornets (6-3) were no trouble for Vicksburg (8-2). The Gators went up 19-5 after one quarter and extended their lead to 52-24 at halftime.

Ammons, a South Alabama signee, scored 21 of his 35 points in the first half. Josh Gaskin added 13 and Dominique Brown had nine.

The Hornets did not have anyone score in double figures.