The Warren Central Lady Vikes have had better games. They will have better games in the future. Monday’s effort was adequate, at least, which means they’ll get a couple of more chances to seek perfection.

Amber Gaston had 15 points and three blocked shots, Cocoa Fultz added 10 points, and the Lady Vikes sidestepped a sluggish start to beat Greenville 47-26 in the first round of the Division 4-6A girls’ basketball tournament.

Warren Central (21-7) only led by two points early in the second quarter, but used an 11-0 run to build a double-digit lead by halftime and steadily pulled away from there.

“It was kind of slow for us,” Warren Central coach Jackie Martin-Glass said. “I wanted to get into a zone. We played a man (defense) against Lanier and got into foul trouble late in the game, so I was skeptical about playing man. I didn’t want my girls to play too aggressive early. So I held it to the second half. We came out and jumped on them with something different, and it worked in our favor. We were able to spread the game out some.”

The win sends Warren Central into the division tournament championship game, Friday at 6 p.m. in its gym. It will face the winner of tonight’s first-round game between Murrah and Clinton, and also clinched a spot in next week’s Class 6A state tournament.

Warren Central has not won its division tournament since 2009.

“It’s been a while, so I’m excited to get a chance to play for it again,” said Martin-Glass, who has gotten WC to the division tournament title game twice in her eight seasons as coach but has never won it.

The Murrah-Clinton loser will play Greenville (16-10) in the third-place game Thursday at 6 p.m. at Warren Central.

Greenville has lost its last four games in Warren Central’s gym. The latest defeat was caused by a rough stretch in the middle of the game. The Honey Bees went scoreless for nearly four minutes in the second quarter after trailing 10-8. That opened the door for Warren Central’s 11-0 run, and it wasn’t much of a contest after that.

Greenville had another long scoreless drought in the third quarter. It didn’t score until Charkaju Warren hit a layup with 2:05 to go, making it 31-15 in favor of Warren Central. The margin grew to as many as 23 points in the fourth quarter as Warren Central ground down the clock.

“We didn’t show up to play. They wanted it more than we did. It was just all about effort. You can’t take anything from them, but they had effort and we didn’t,” Greenville coach Dakedreon Lampkin said. “This time of year you can’t turn the ball over. When you turn the ball over, and then you add to it not making shots, that’s a recipe for disaster.”

Chae White finished with eight points for Warren Central, with six of those coming during the decisive second-quarter run. Dee Dee Caldwell also had eight points.

Jeanee Anderson led Greenville with 10 points.

Division 4-6A Tournamemt
At Warren Central
Boys
Monday
Warren Central 50, Clinton 47
Tuesday
Murrah vs. Greenville, 7:30 p.m.
Thursday
Clinton vs. Murrah-Greenville loser, 7:30 p.m.
Friday
Warren Central vs. Murrah-Greenville winner, 7:30 p.m.

Girls
Monday
Warren Central 47, Greenville 26
Tuesday
Murrah vs. Clinton, 6 p.m.
Thursday
Greenville vs. Murrah-Clinton loser, 6 p.m.
Friday
Warren Central vs. Murrah-Clinton winner, 6 p.m.