In the Division 3-6A opener for both teams at Memorial Stadium, Clinton got a pre-Christmas leg up in the playoff chase.

Vicksburg was left smarting after a 5-0 bashing on Tuesday in conditions that Clinton coach Thomas Bobo described as “deplorable.”

The Missy Gators (5-6) were hit hard by the loss of forward Maya Thomas, who sustained a concussion and a strained neck muscle against Florence on Nov. 29. With her out, leading scorer Tabitha Hayden was bottled up by an aggressive Clinton defense.

The good news is Thomas will likely return for the Warren Central game on Dec. 16.

“Instead of us having two speed demons up top who work very well together, we just have one speed demon,” Vicksburg coach Kori Babb said. “That definitely affects us and we miss her dearly.”

The Lady Arrows knocked the Missy Gators to the ropes early and often in a first half marked by five goals, two each by Heather Miller and Kyra Montez. Miller scored her two goals in quick succession, sneaking both on nearly identical shots past the left post.

Montez added another with 7:01 left in the first, booting it past a diving Robin Cooper in goal. The flurry continued, as Taylor Maddox caught Cooper out of position after a great cross and tapped in a touch shot with 5:04 left. Montez finished the scoring with just seconds to spare, dribbling through the heart of the Vicksburg defense and finishing with a solid shot that Cooper couldn’t get a bead on until it was too late.

“We’ve scoring some goals of late and we weren’t doing that to start the year,” Bobo said. “Any time you can start 1-0 in the district, that’s great. Despite the conditions, we played well tonight.”

The good news was the Missy Gators played the Lady Arrows to an 0-0 tie in the second half.

“We’re really a second-half team,” Babb said. “If we play to a 0-0 tie in the first half, we usually win.”

Clinton had its own share of injury problems, missing three defenders who were lost in the Lady Arrows’ opener. Despite the rearrangements in the back, Clinton outshot Vicksburg 13-3 and kept Hayden marked up successfully for the entire contest.

Even so, the Missy Gators couldn’t take advantage.

“That’s been the mindset, year in and year out, that Clinton is kind of better than us,” Babb said. “If we could just get past that mindset… If we would’ve played to our potential, we could’ve been beaten Clinton. Now this loss sets the tempo for district play and we’re a little behind (in the playoff chase). But we’ve still got a chance to compete for a playoff spot and possibly, a district championship.”