For the first 10 minutes of their game against Jim Hill Friday night, the Vicksburg Gators weren’t just in an offensive dry spell. It was a shooting Sahara.

VHS made only one basket in the first 10 minutes,, 15 seconds, allowing No. 3 Jim Hill to build a 10-point lead that it maintained with second-half dominance in the paint and rode it to a 47-40 win.

“(Jim Hill) had lost two in a row, and I knew they were going to come out with a lot of energy and aggressiveness. I was hoping we could match that energy, and we couldn’t,” VHS coach Dellie Robinson said.

Devin Jones led VHS (14-5) with 15 points and five assists, and Roy Williams added eight points.

Stanford Speech led Jim Hill with 14 points, Jason Husband had 10 and Tony Hobson grabbed nine rebounds as the Tigers (15-2) controlled the boards 27-17.

The dominance in the paint also extended to the offensive end. Jim Hill got plenty of offensive rebounds and baskets off of back-door cut plays in the second half to keep its lead around 10 points.

After VHS went scoreless for the first seven minutes of the game and Jim Hill crept to a 12-2 lead at the end of the first quarter, the Gators didn’t get closer than eight points and never trailed by more than 12 until the final two minutes of the game.

“We were trying to keep them off-balance. In our motion offense, they were switching off the players we wanted to get the ball to, so we went to the back-door cuts,” said Jim Hill coach Fred Harris, a former Gator standout. “That kept their defense moving and switching and we got some easy baskets.”

Vicksburg finally made a dent in the lead as time began to slip away.

Sedrick Williams converted a Jim Hill turnover into a 3-pointer and Devin Jones came up with a steal and layup to cut it to 43-37 with just over a minute to play.

After Jim Hill’s Raymond Davis hit two free throws, Jones was fouled on a 3-point attempt and hit all three free throws to make it 45-40 with 29 seconds remaining. That was as close as the Gators got, however.

Davis and Speech each hit two more free throws and the Gators missed several 3-point attempts in the closing seconds to seal the game.

“We never could get any momentum going. We always had that turnover, that missed shot or missed free throw when we could have gotten back in the game,” Robinson said.

(G) VHS 54, Jim Hill 33

Vicksburg blitzed Jim Hill (1-15) in the first quarter with a full-court press that forced 14 turnovers, then led by as many as 30 points in the second half before cruising to a 21-point win.

VHS (11-8) came up with nine steals in the first quarter and outscored the Lady Tigers 16-2 over the last five minutes of the period to take a 22-7 lead.

For the game, VHS had 18 steals and forced 33 turnovers.

“I didn’t think they could handle any pressure, from what I had heard, and that was it,” VHS coach Mike Coleman said.

The Missy Gators continued to build on the lead until Jim Hill’s starters hit a couple of 3-pointers in the fourth quarter and outscored VHS’ third string 11-2. The outcome of the game was never in doubt.

Tiffany Hubbard led the Missy Gators with 21 points and 10 rebounds, Shalonda Williams had 12 points, and Tricia Dart had 14 points, seven rebounds, five assists and three steals.

(B) West Lincoln 80, St. Al 55

St. Aloysius jumped out to a 7-0 lead, but was outscored 27-11 in the second quarter as West Lincoln cruised to the win.

“We played pretty good, then the second quarter I have no idea what happened,” St. Al coach Paul Hayden said.

Anthony Rector connected on five 3-pointers to lead St. Al (3-11, 1-3 Division 7-1A) with 15 points, and Alan Ebersole added 14 points.

(G) West Lincoln 73, St. Al 31

West Lincoln’s Dana King hit six 3-pointers and finished with 22 points as the Lady Bears routed St. Al (1-13, 0-3). Sarah Kerut led the Lasy Flashes with 17 points.