Southaven blasts Warren Central

Published 11:25 am Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Warren Central made its third consecutive appearance in the Class 6A North State satellite round Tuesday.

That was the good news.

The bad news was the Lady Vikes came home disappointed for the third consecutive time.

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A’Queen Hayes scored 16 points, Olivia Cunningham added 11 and Southaven rolled to a 62-35 victory over Warren Central. The Lady Chargers (28-1) outscored WC 40-15 in the second and third periods to blow the game wide open.

“They played really tough, had really good guards and were able to finish on their breaks. We missed a lot of easy opportunities, and I think we were intimidated by their size,” WC coach Jackie Martin-Brown said. “We let them inflict their will on us and overpower us. We got down too fast and couldn’t recover.”

No Warren Central player had more than four points. Southaven jumped out to an 18-5 lead after one quarter, then outscored the Lady Vikes 25-12 in the second. Warren Central only scored three points in the third quarter as Southaven stretched the lead to 38 points.

Despite the lopsided final score, Martin-Brown said the Lady Vikes had plenty of chances to make a game of it in the early going.

“The biggest thing was, we couldn’t score. We missed easy opportunities, and if we converted a few of those it could have shifted the momentum,” she said.

It’s the third straight season Warren Central has lost in the satellite round. While disheartening, Martin-Brown felt her team could grow from the experience. There are only three seniors on this year’s roster, so there’s a chance to get back to this level and get over the hump.

“It was really a good experience. If you want to be able to compete for a state

championship, you have to be able to play teams like this,” Martin-Brown said. “To play a team that might win the state championship is a chance for our girls to do some self-evaluation and see where they need to be to win.”