BRANDON — The Vicksburg Missy Gators recovered in time to salvage something from a lost afternoon Tuesday. It was momentum, though, and not the win they hoped for.

Maddie Edmonson scored three goals, Northwest Rankin put four in the net in the first 23 minutes, and the Lady Cougars routed Vicksburg 5-1.

It was a disappointing end to 2010 for the Missy Gators — they won’t play again until facing division rival Clinton on Jan. 4 — but there was a silver lining. They managed to put 10 shots on goal against a tough Northwest Rankin squad that improved to 14-1, and controlled the flow for large portions of the second half. Goalkeeper Robin Cooper also had a solid day, making 16 saves against 23 shots and constant pressure.

Still, it was hard to erase the memory of a bad first half. Northwest’s early surge temporarily stopped the momentum Vicksburg (4-9) had coming off a close loss to archrival Warren Central on Friday and a lopsided win over Greenville-Weston on Saturday.

“I don’t know that this game does provide

momentum,” VHS coach Kori Babb said. “Warren Central and Greenville gave us momentum. I wish we could just erase this game.”

Tabitha Hayden scored Vicksburg’s only goal 11 minutes into the second half. She dribbled across the field and then, while running parallel to the goal, uncorked a wild shot with her right leg as she went into a slide. The ball curled in behind Northwest Rankin keeper Maggie Kuhn to give the Missy Gators a spark.

The deficit, though, was too great.

Edmonson knocked in a rebound goal less than a minute into the game, then added a second score at the 12-minute mark off a cross from Camille Dumas. Parker Welch scored for Northwest about four minutes later, and Claire Bolen capped the first-half flurry with a goal at the 23-minute mark to make it 4-0.

After Hayden’s goal, Edmonson finished off the victory with another tally with less than 10 minutes to play to make it 5-1.

“They controlled the first half and capitalized on our mistakes and scored,” Babb said. “Defensively, we just made a lot of mistakes. In the past, when a team scores on us, we’ve shut down instead of fighting back. The second half we made a few changes on the field that worked better for us.”

Although Northwest outshot Vicksburg 15-6 in the second half, the last 40 minutes seemed more evenly matched. The Missy Gators had several scoring opportunities in the free-flowing game, allowing them to take something positive from the defeat.

“I think everybody just needed some motivation,” Hayden said. “The second half, after we talked and figured out the problems, we picked up the pace.”