The Warren Central Lady Vikes plowed through two opponents Tuesday to reach the semifinals of the girls’ Jackson Public Schools basketball tournament. To win the championship, they’ll have to do it again.

The Lady Vikes routed Natchez 52-24 in a losers’ bracket game Tuesday morning and then came back in the evening to blow out Provine 58-26.

The two wins set up a semifinal matchup with Murrah Wednesday at 11:30 a.m. at Forest Hill High School in Jackson. The winner will play in the championship game at 6:30 p.m., also at Forest Hill.

“We did well. The girls liked it,” Warren Central coach Jackie Glass said of surviving the first of two potential back-to-back doubleheaders. “We will check our stamina. They tend to get stiff when they sleep it off. I hope we can hold up.”

The Lady Vikes (11-4) fell into the losers’ bracket of the double-elimination tournament with a loss to Callaway on Monday, but on Tuesday looked more like the team that has shut down opponents and racked up wins through the first two months of the season.

Dee Dee Caldwell scored 14 points and Amber Gaston had 12 in the win over Natchez. T.T. Sims added eight and Te’Asia Sims seven.

In the win over Provine, Gaston had 15 points, seven rebounds and five blocked shots as the Lady Vikes put together a balanced effort.

Aniya Sanders just missed a double-double with 11 points and nine rebounds. Cocoa Fultz scored 12 points, Te’Asia Sims had seven points and five steals, and T.T. Sims scored six points and five rebounds.

Warren Central never trailed against Provine (5-10) and opened up a double-digit lead by the end of the first quarter. It was the 10th time in their 11 wins that the Lady Vikes have held their opponent under 35 points, and the fourth time in the last five games they’ve held an opponent under 30.

(B) Warren Central 46, Wingfield 44
Provine 51, Warren Central 38

Warren Central’s boys’ team survived one elimination game in the losers’ bracket of the JPS Tournament on Tuesday, but ran out of gas in the second part of their doubleheader.

After edging Wingfield 46-44 in the morning, the Vikings lost 51-38 to Provine a few hours later.
Chavis Smith led the Vikings (7-6) with 12 points in the win over Wingfield, and Walt Hopson scored 11. LaAndre Thomas hit three 3-pointers for Wingfield and finished with 20 points.

The Vikings struggled early, but held Wingfield to just 15 points in the second half to scrape out the victory. Smith split a pair of free throws with a minute left to put WC ahead 45-44, and Jacques Jones split two more free throws with about 20 seconds to go for a two-point lead.

Wingfield missed three shots and committed a turnover on its last four possessions.

Against Provine (5-8), the Vikings only scored three points in the first quarter and were again fighting an uphill battle — only this time they couldn’t finish the comeback.

Anthony Johnson scored 13 points and Johnny Bingham had 10 to lead Provine into the JPS semifinals. The Rams went 15-for-27 from the free throw line in a foul-laden game. Warren Central was 22-for-26 at the line.

Smith was a perfect 7-for-7 from the foul line for the Vikings and finished with 11 points. Walton was 6-for-7 and scored 13 points.

Warren Central will return to action Jan. 3 at Northwest Rankin.