The Warren Central Lady Vikes are off to their best start in four seasons.

Thursday night, the Lady Vikes used a tough man-to-man defense to remain unbeaten with a 39-32 victory over Jim Hill.

WC used a 10-0 run at the start of the fourth quarter to pull away and held Jim Hill (1-2) without a field goal in the second half until the final 30 seconds. The surge allowed the Lady Vikes to rally from a six-point deficit at halftime and improve to 3-0 for the first time since 2008.

WC coach Jackie Martin-Brown said the solid start to the season should build momentum for her team.

“It’s a long time since we’ve been 3-0 around here,” Martin-Brown said. “We were down at the half and I felt we needed to pick up the intensity. We’re bigger and quicker this season and that helps our man defense.”

The Lady Vikes trailed 17-11 at the half. They had just one made field goal and the other nine points came from the free throw line. The third quarter was different as four players made a basket. The biggest was Alexis Daniels’ three-point play that tied the game at 20 with a minute left in the quarter.

The Lady Vikes’ fourth quarter run was fueled by 6-foot sophomore Shae Bracey, who scored six of her 13 points in the period. Bracey’s three-point play made it 30-20 with 2:43 left.

Eight free throws by Sharika Johnson and Shakebrand Younger’s 3-pointer cut it to 36-32 with 26.4 seconds left. Daniels answered for WC with a free throw at the 14.5 second mark and two more free throws by Bracey eight seconds later sealed it.

Jim Hill coach Jacqueline Ross was not happy with the officials.

“I had four foul out and all of them were post players who guarded Bracey, so what does that tell you?” Ross said.

Daniels finished with eight points. Jim Hill was led by Iesha Lacey with 10 points and Johnson with nine.