Wanda Calvin of Warren Central draws a foul on Lanier’s Candace Bingham as teammate Lia Green looks on. (The Vicksburg Post/MARK THORNTON)

[12/27/00] JACKSON Tuesday’s game went just how Warren Central coach Donny Fuller wanted it to.

The Lady Vikes beat Lanier, 68-47, in the opening game of the Jackson Public Schools Holiday Tournament, and Fuller got to use plenty of players in the process.

WC (14-2) will face Jefferson County Wednesday at 5:30 p.m.

Fuller’s plan was to build a big lead, then clear the bench and save the starters for the rest of the four-day tournament.

Mission accomplished.

“I was a little worried coming in because of the 10-day layoff,” he said. “You never know how they’re going to respond after being off that long.”

Especially after a Christmas feast and goodies.

“You can look and tell that most of ours haven’t missed many meals,” Fuller added, chuckling.

The Lady Bulldogs (3-13) stayed with WC in the first quarter, and even led by three midway through. But Wanda Calvin almost single-handedly outscored the Jackson team.

She hit her first three shots and finished with 10 of her game-high 18 points in the first quarter. Lia Green added 11 points and 10 rebounds and Wendy Thomas scored nine and had five assists for WC, which had 11 players score.

“We wanted to keep the starters’ legs fresh,” Fuller said. “You have to play four games in four days to win this thing.”

The Lady Vikes won the JPS tournament three times in its 20 years and reached the finals three other times, the last in 1996, when they lost to Vicksburg. The tournament is down to 23 teams this year after averaging 60 or more in the past. The finals are 1 p.m. at Forest Hill on Friday.

Fuller hadn’t played in the JPS event the last two years so his team could play in a tournament in Mobile, Ala. That trip had to be canceled this year to comply with Title IX guidelines. The boys team didn’t have an overnight, out-of-state tournament schedule, so the girls couldn’t either.

The Vikings will face Ouachita Wednesday night in a tournament at West Monroe (La.).

Calvin hit a 3-pointer early in the second quarter, then Thomas got back-to-back steals and turned them into points as WC started on a 19-7 run. LaShanda Williams banked in a long 3 at the buzzer for a 41-25 halftime lead.

“They just wore us down,” said coach Thado Gordon, in just his second game with the Lady Bulldogs.

He said second-year coach Arleen Williams resigned last week.

“They outsized us and outnumbered us,” said Gordon, who retired from Callaway after 26 years in 1994. “We had no energy.”

Sophomore Lashund Griffin led Lanier with 16 points and Cayla Miller added 10.

WC took its biggest lead with reserves on the floor. A layup by Lameka Miller made it a 27-point game, 57-30, with just over a minute left in the third quarter. Late in the final period, Porshia Ferguson got a steal and a running layup to push it to 28, 66-38.

“Our goal is to give up 40 (points) or less, and they were almost a third of the way there after the first quarter,” said Fuller, whose team allowed just nine in the second and third periods. “But we tightened up in the second quarter and did a lot better.”