Missy Gators erupt to blow out Clinton

Published 12:00 am Tuesday, November 25, 2003

(11/25/03)It took the Vicksburg Missy Gators four minutes to get cranked up Monday night and they didn’t stop until the final buzzer.

Vicksburg (5-2) trailed 11-0 midway through the first quarter, then held the Lady Arrows to 21 points the rest of the way in a 52-32 blowout.

Erica Woodson scored a game-high 13 points, Kristin Ellis scored 11 and Kendra Sims added 10 for the Missy Gators, who will travel to Jim Hill today for a game at 6 p.m.

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“They were in their positions ready to play and we didn’t come out as strong on defense as we should have,” Woodson said. “They got cranked up early.”

Clinton, playing without its starting point guard Miranda Anderson because of a broken wrist, relied heavily on the inside play of Ryan Heard and Katorra Lewis.

The two players each at 6-foot, 3-inches combined for 17 of the Lady Arrows’ points.

“We don’t look like the same team without her,” Clinton coach Gary Miller said of Anderson’s absence. “But that is no excuse for not executing on offense the final three quarters. She does run our offense and is our leading scorer, but we will be without her for a long time and can’t use that as an excuse.”

After Vicksburg’s first basket, Clinton scored again to make the score 13-2. The Missy Gators then went on an 18-2 run through the rest of the first quarter and some of the second as Vicksburg led 20-15.

“We switched to a 2-3 zone because they were rebounding so good,” Vicksburg coach Mike Coleman said of Clinton’s early run. “After that, we started rebounding and I don’t think they got a lot of second shots after we switched to that zone.”

Vicksburg led 28-19 at halftime and increased the lead to 35-24 at the end of the third quarter.

Vicksburg took its biggest lead of the night on back-to-back hoops by Sims, both coming off Ellis steals for a 50-28 lead. Ellis had nine rebounds and four steals.

“It’s nice because this was a big game for us,” Coleman said of the win. “If we can go take care of business on Tuesday against Jim Hill, we’ll be 6-2 going into Thanksgiving and that would be a real good start for us.”

(B) Clinton 46, VHS 34

Vicksburg High scored 16 points in the second and third quarters combined in suffering a loss to undefeated Clinton.

Clinton, meanwhile, scored 33 points over that same stretch to turn a close game into a sleeper.

Sedrick Williams scored a team-high 23 points for Vicksburg and Cedric Parsons added four.

For Clinton, Sernell Williams scored 23, including a stretch in the second quarter where he scored 10 straight Clinton points.

Vicksburg is scheduled to play at Jim Hill tonight at 7:30 p.m.