Tricia Dart, a sophomore at Vicksburg High, pulls down a rebound. (The Vicksburg Post/PAT SHANNAHAN)

Shalonda Williams had 13 points and Kamekia Linzy added 12 to pace Vicksburg (1-1) past Port Gibson, 60-43, in a game that featured a combined 53 turnovers, 49 fouls and whistles on nearly every trip down the floor.

Re’Andrea Jackson led all scorers with 22 points for Port Gibson (0-1), including 10-for-20 on free throws, in VHS’ opening game of the Coca-Cola Classic.

“A lot of those fouls are just because they’re trying too hard, and I’d rather they try too hard than not try enough,” VHS coach Mike Coleman said.

The Missy Gators roared out of the chute, taking a 13-0 lead before Jackson scored Port Gibson’s first points on a layup with about two minutes to play in the first quarter.

VHS led 16-5 after one quarter, but Port Gibson cut it to 26-21 at the half.

The Missy Gators pushed the lead back up to double-digits by the end of the third quarter, then put the game away with a 3-point barrage midway through the fourth.

Shayla White hit two 3-pointers in a two-minute span, then Williams added another with about five minutes to play to turn a fairly close game into a 23-point lead, 52-29, with 4:47 left.

“Shalonda can shoot, but we’ve got other young kids that can shoot that other people just don’t know about yet,” Coleman said with a smile.

Port Gibson coach Lonnie Walker said foul trouble, especially to his point guard, hurt his team in the first half.

“This is our first ballgame and our kids played a little jittery,” Walker said. “They played good in spurts.”

(B) VHS 64, P. Gibson 56

Demetrick Allen led VHS (2-0) with 24 points and 10 rebounds as the Gators dominated Port Gibson (0-1) on the boards, used a 16-1 run to blow the game open early and then held off a late charge for a win.

“I thought Demetrick was the difference in the ballgame,” VHS coach Dellie Robinson said. “It was Miguel (Henyard) on Saturday and Demetrick on Monday, and hopefully it’ll be somebody else (today).”

DeWayne Jackson added 12 points and seven rebounds for VHS and Gerrick Durrell scored 11 points and grabbed seven rebounds.

It ruined a great performance by Port Gibson’s Leroy Allen, who finished with 21 points and nine steals.

“He’s only an 11th-grader, too,” Port Gibson coach Kim Windom said. “Last year he was a follower but this year he’s more of a leader.”

Four of Durrell’s points came on a pair of dunks that served as bookends for the Gators’ big run.

The first came in the closing seconds of the first quarter, when he gathered in a rebound off a missed free throw and slammed it home to give VHS a 15-10 lead and triggered an offensive explosion.

With three of Port Gibson’s first six players on the bench with three fouls apiece, the Gators outscored the Wave 14-1 over the first 41/2 minutes of the second quarter and opened up a 29-11 lead with 3:32 to play in the half.

Durrell’s second dunk came on an alley-oop from Jason Walker with under 10 seconds to play in the first half and put an exclamation point on a quarter in which the Gators outscored Port Gibson 20-6.

“That hurt us a lot,” Windom said of his team’s foul trouble. “We had to bring out our center and one of our guards. That hurt us a lot.”

VHS kept the lead around 15 points until late in the game, when Port Gibson got hot from 3-point range. The Wave hit 5 of 7 3-pointers in the fourth quarter.

As VHS’ starting backcourt of Walker and Henyard fouled out in the final two minutes, Port Gibson went on a 13-5 run to close the game, but VHS answered every Wave 3-pointer with an inside basket by Jackson or Demetrick Allen.

The win sends VHS into Tuesday night’s game with Provine at 6 p.m. at VHS. Despite Provine’s fearsome reputation, Robinson said he liked the Gators’ chances.

“We’re going to find out whether Canton was a fluke or if we’re a pretty good basketball team,” Robinson said. “It’s a good game for us and I think if our guys play well, we’re going to have an excellent chance at beating them.”