Rae Evans of Vicksburg battles Clinton’s Elaine McDougle (31) for a rebound in the first quarter. (The Vicksburg Post/PAT SHANNAHAN)

[01/02/01] BRANDON The Vicksburg Missy Gators were on a roll heading into the championship game of the Northwest Rankin Tournament on Friday.

Then they ran into Clinton’s press and a roadblock named LaToya George.

George scored 35 points, including 21 in the first half, and Clinton forced 11 turnovers most of them on steals and outscored the Missy Gators (8-10) 21-5 in the second quarter to blow open a close game and cruise to a 64-38 win.

“They went to the press and we just didn’t do a good job of handling it. It looked like we just froze when they put the pressure on us. We threw it to them more than we threw it to ourselves,” VHS coach Mike Coleman said.

Katina Cooper led VHS with 16 points and Latoya Trunell added nine. Both were named to the all-tournament team.

VHS was 6-for-10 from the field in the first quarter and held a 13-12 lead after the first period horn sounded. But the buzzer appeared to be like an alarm clock for the Lady Arrows, who switched to the press and suffocated the Missy Gators.

VHS was just 2-for-9 in the second quarter, and didn’t score until Cooper hit a 3-pointer with just under three minutes to play.

“We started out playing man-to-man and they did a good job of attacking our man-to-man defense, so we changed things. We kept rotating our defenses and our press,” Clinton coach Gary Miller said.

“We don’t have a whole lot of depth. We don’t have a whole lot of players, period. We’re very young and didn’t want to get a whole lot of people in foul trouble, so we waited to press more in the second quarter than the first.”

VHS trailed 33-18 at halftime, but started the second half strong defensively.

The Missy Gators forced four turnovers in the first three minutes of the third quarter, but couldn’t convert them into enough points to chop into the lead.

Clinton weathered the storm, keeping the lead over 10 points before pulling away late in the quarter.

The Lady Arrows led 52-32 by the end of the third and VHS, which committed 29 turnovers in the game, never threatened again.

“I told the girls in the locker room after the game that I was proud of the tournament we had. I don’t want to have to settle for being the second-best team around, but this is a step in the right direction for us …,” Coleman said.

(B) VHS 71, Hazlehurst 31

Patrick Igbokwe scored 12 points to lead three Gators in double figures in the blowout of Hazlehurst in the consolation round of the Northwest Rankin Tournament.

Demetrick Allen netted 10 and Jason Walker added 11 for the Gators (12-6), who won their second straight game.

Vicksburg held a 36-18 lead at halftime and never looked back against the Class 3A school.

“I thought we shot the ball really well tonight, for a change,” Vicksburg coach Dellie Robinson said.

The Gators will play at Port Gibson on Tuesday.