MENDENHALL — The Lady Vikes of Warren Central finished off their two-game set at the Mendenhall Holiday Tournament with a 55-46 win over Florence.

Playing in Mendenhall’s gym, which dates back to the 1930s and features a wooden roof, the Lady Vikes overcame a slow shooting start to dispatch Florence (9-6), a Class 4A school. The Lady Vikes (11-3) made just 3-of-24 shots through the game’s first 12 minutes, but came on strong in the second half.

Ricille Davis was a big reason why. She had just one point over the first 12 minutes, but then scored 20 of her game- high 23 points in the second half to rally the Lady Vikes.

Kierra Moore helped steady the Lady Vikes until Davis warmed up. She stuck back two of Davis’ misses and then made both free throws in the second quarter as WC rallied from a 16-9 deficit. They went up 19-18 after Davis finally got a shot to go down right before halftime buzzer.

“We’re a better team than what we showed there in the first half,” Moore said. “We picked it up in the second half. Ricille slowed down and got focused. As for me, I just took my time and kept my head in the game. It was good experience for us to come here and win two big games.”

WC coach Jackie Martin-Glass was more than happy to close out the holidays with her team’s sixth-straight win and can now look forward to a key Jan. 5 game with division rival Clinton.

“We just had to keep working and Ricille came back well and finished with 23. Had she made some of those easy shots in the first half, she could’ve had 40,” Martin-Glass said. “We just kept our head up. We adjusted our man defense some at the half. We were going too much over the top of their screens, but in the second half, we stayed more in the middle and got some steals.”

One of those steals by Davis, three minutes into the third quarter, gave WC the lead for good at 25-23. It was 37-32 at the end of three quarters and then Florence missed five straight shots to open the final quarter.

Jalesa Hobson finished with 22 while Passion Camper had 13. Moore ended with 14 points and six rebounds. WC made 13-of-23 shots in the second half and was 20-of-51 for the game.

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Contact Jeff Byrd at jbyrd@vicksburgpost.com