[01/08/01] Coming off the holiday vacation, the Warren Central Vikings did not show any signs of a layoff Friday night against Cleveland.

The Vikings (8-9) had all but one player score in their 97-46 shellacking of the Wildcats (3-14).

“We haven’t had a game like this in a couple of years,” Warren Central coach John Duett said. “It was good to have everybody contribute.”

Senior guard Kevin Coker led the Vikings with a game-high 23 points, including four treys. Sherman Logan and Clifford Walker followed with 13 apiece. Carlton Bradford added nine.

The Wildcats never stood a chance. The Vikings came out like a team possessed in the first quarter and held a 27-4 lead at the end of the period.

In the first quarter, the Wildcats were 2-for-13 from the field and committed nine miscues. Coker had 11 of the Vikings’ 27 points in the quarter.

Holding a 47-19 lead at the half, the Vikings didn’t let up. Warren Central came out and scored 11 points in the first minute of the third quarter.

During that one-minute stint, Coker nailed two 3-pointers and Walker had one for the Vikings, who took a 72-27 lead into the final quarter.

Duett was able to clear bench and hold onto the lead.

“We shot the ball extremely well,” Duett said. “Regardless of the competition, we had the best night shooting for the first time in a while.”

Bo Cox was the only scorer in double-digits for the Wildcats with 12 points.

(G) WC 60, Cleveland 41

The Lady Vikes (16-3) were playing without the services of senior forward Lia Green, who was visiting her grandparents in Arizona. Plenty of teammates took up the slack.

Wendy Thomas came off the bench and gave the Lady Vikes a lift when they needed one to preserve the win against the Lady Wildcats (7-13). She finished with a team-high 14 points.

“Wendy gave us the lift we needed,” Warren Central coach Donny Fuller said. “She came off the bench and got some rebounds and got some points when we needed. She has been doing that all year.”

Warren Central held a 17-15 lead in the second quarter and struggled the whole game shooting when Thomas came in and scored seven points to give them 26-20 lead at the half.

The Lady Vikes were 9-for-28 shooting from the field and committed 12 turnovers in the first half.

“I thought we came out very sluggish in the first half,” Fuller said. “I thought most of that was rust from the vacation, but we did better in the second half.”

Lameka Miller followed with 10 points and Wanda Calvin chipped in eight. The Lady Wildcats held Jaquita Benard to five points.

Cleveland’s Candace Liger had a game-high 16 points while Tish Brown added eight.

The Lady Vikes played in their full-court pressure the whole game and caused 26 turnovers to add on to their lead.

“We had a bunch of kids step up and play for us,” Fuller said. “We expect that from them. They don’t necessarily have to score points, but contribute on defense.”

The Lady Vikes outscored the Lady Wildcats 34-21 in the second half to close the door.