It was a little over a month ago when Vicksburg High’s gymnasium was filled to capacity for the girls’ basketball game between VHS and Warren Central.

On Saturday, fans headed down Highway 27 for the final meeting of the season and the intensity remained high.

Amber Gaston scored 15 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and recorded a season-high nine blocks as Warren Central beat Vicksburg 57-55. T.T Sims followed with 14 points, four rebounds, four assists and three steals.

“I felt like we kind of didn’t play as well as we should at first,” said Vicksburg’s Micha Williams, who scored 10 points. “We came out slow and waited too long to push it and do what we’re supposed to do.”

Williams hit a 3-pointer with 2:37 left in the game to trim Warren Central’s lead to 52-49.

“When I shot the 3 we all had adrenaline running through us and it felt like we really could get in control,” Williams said.

With a chance to send the game into overtime, Keiyana Gaskin missed two free throws. She went 1-for-10 from the line.

Free throws have been the Achilles’ heel in the Missy Gators offense all season and it came back to haunt them. They went 17-for-30 from the free throw line.

While the Lady Vikes came out winners on Saturday, both Gaston and coach Jackie Martin-Glass felt there was room for improvement.

“We could’ve done better. I feel like we could’ve hustled like we did in the beginning,” Gaston said. “It’s just a matter of experience and hustling at the last minute.”

Martin-Glass wasn’t happy with the Lady Vikes’ effort down the stretch. They led by eight with three minutes to play and then had to hang on in the final seconds.

“We played it really good for the crowd. I’m happy that we won but I’m not happy about how we played,” Martin-Glass said. “I felt like at some point we should’ve extended the lead but we were playing careless. We weren’t executing but that’s the nature of these type games when it’s rivalries and it could go either way. I’m just happy we pulled it out.

Cocoa Fultz made her return for the Lady Vikes after rolling her ankle in practice in December.

Fultz recorded one made free throw, a block and a steal.

Heading into the game Martin-Glass knew how well Vicksburg’s Karry Callahan and her teammates rebounded the ball and wanted to them off the boards.

The Missy Gators collected 37 rebounds and narrowly edged out the Lady Vikes, who recorded 35. Callahan had 15 rebounds, along with 20 points.

“They got a lot of offensive rebounds. That was frustrating to me because I told my girls they’re a team that’s going to go to the offensive boards,” Martin-Glass said. “Callahan rebounds well. She went hard and they all went hard. I was a little disappointed we weren’t able to keep them off the boards.”