Warren Central girls basketball coach Donny Fuller had heard Vicksburg had blown a 17-point second-half lead on Friday night against Yazoo City.

He was hoping he could avoid a similar fate Saturday afternoon when his Lady Vikes took on the Missy Gators. Yet there he saw his Lady Vikes burn up almost all of a 19-point second-half lead before regaining enough composure to win 58-54.

“Don’t think that wasn’t on my mind,” Fuller said in reference to Vicksburg’s 54-49 loss to Yazoo City Friday night. But on Saturday, he watched the Lady Vikes go from a 44-25 advantage with four minutes left in the third quarter fall to just four points with 51 seconds to go.

“We won the game and we’re done with Vicksburg. We won three out of four against them this year and 14 out of the last 17,” Fuller said.

A good effort from the Lady Vikes bench was able to counter a great coming out party for Vicksburg freshman forward Donyeah Mayfield. The daughter of Vicksburg North Ward Alderman Michael Mayfield, led the Missy Gators (8-13) with 15 points and 12 rebounds to help fuel the comeback.

“She played really well, and just a freshman,” VHS coach Barbara Hartzog said. “Free throws cost us again. We’ve got to make more of them.”

Fuller got 23 points from his reserves led by Vernadette Hale and DeShaundra Eatmon. Hale had eight points while Eatmon made a rare four-point play at the end of the first quarter to put WC up 16-8.

“I thought our bench was really good,” Fuller said. “They gave us quality, quality minutes. And we had to have them come through for us.”

Despite the early lead, WC (13-7) had to play the second quarter without starting point guard Karnina Bunch, who was on the bench with two first-quarter fouls. Eatmon was steady, swiping three steals and earning three assists to help WC to a 29-17 halftime lead.

Bunch came back in the third quarter and sparked a Lady Vikes’ run to build the lead to 44-25 after her reverse layup and two free throws from Sha’Kayla Caples.

Vicksburg, though, went on an 11-1 run to close out the quarter to pull within nine at 45-36.

A putback by Shanequa Hill got Vicksburg within five at 50-45 with 5:18 left. Hale countered with a three-point play with 3:25 left to boost the lead back to nine at 56-47.

Mayfield kept Vicksburg in it, scoring seven of her 15 in the fourth quarter to go with four rebounds.

Down five at 58-53, Vicksburg had two chances to get it to a single possession game after Bunch was called for charging with 1:07 left. The Missy Gators could get only a free throw from Hill as WC overcame two turnovers and two missed shots by Alexus Stirgus in the final 50 seconds.

Caples led WC with 21 points and 12 rebounds. Bunch had 12 points and four assists.

Stirgus and Ammons had 10 points each for Vicksburg.