The Vicksburg Gators turned senior night into one big party.

Led by seniors Kirk Parker and Joe Thomas, who scored 15 and 12 points, respectively, in their final home game, the Gators walked away with an 83-50 rout of Lanier on Tuesday night.

Darius Johnson also scored 12 points for Vicksburg (15-6, 4-1 Division 4-5A), which won its sixth consecutive game. VHS plays its final division game Thursday night at Ridgeland, and will be either the No. 1 or No. 2 seed for the upcoming division tournament.

“It was a good win,” interim Vicksburg coach Kelvin Carter said. “We kind of got away from detail a little bit … As a team we stepped up and played together, played defense.”

Vicksburg sat in the driver’s seat the entire night. Lanier (3-20, 1-5) played hard, but couldn’t contend with the size and experience of the Gators. After answering an early run by the Gators, Lanier only scored five points in the first six minutes of the second quarter and trailed 41-25 at halftime.
Earl Smith finished with a game-high 26 points for Lanier.

“We played too loose. We were kind of playing for ourselves a little bit instead of playing team ball. We made the adjustment real quick in the second quarter. We started to defend a little bit better and kept (Smith) at bay. (Smith) made everything work for them,” Carter said.

The Gators kept pulling away in the second half. They outscored Lanier 19-11 in the third quarter and 23-14 in the fourth. Vicksburg beat the Bulldogs for the third time in a row, and for the third time by 20 or more points since they became division opponents in 2012. Vicksburg won 75-54 when the teams played in Jackson on Jan. 20.

Overall, Lanier — a longtime power that played for a state championship as recently as 2011 — lost for the 12th time in 13 games this season.

“They’ve got some potential in the future, but that’s a sophomore team,” Carter said of Lanier. “I think coach is doing a good job over there. I think in the future they are going to be something to be reckoned with.”

That’s a process Vicksburg might have to go through next season. Six seniors — Parker, Thomas, Raheem Moore, Kardell English, Dentarius Richardson and Justin Kilcrease — were honored before Tuesday’s game. There are only two juniors and seven sophomores on the roster.

Carter was hopeful the amount of playing time the younger players have seen this season will be beneficial in the years to come.

“We only have two juniors and the rest of them are sophomores,” Carter said. “We’re going to be in the same boat Lanier is in. The good thing is our younger guys are able to get experience. The last four or five games they’ve been able to stick their head in there and contribute.”

(G) Lanier 55, Vicksburg 30

A slow start buried the Vicksburg Missy Gators Tuesday night in their senior night matchup with Lanier, but coach Barbara Hartzog has a lot of hope for the future.

“The young ones really stepped up and did well. They are the future,” Hartzog said. “They’re going to be all right.”

For Lanier, Jayla Alexander had 25 points and Keshuna Luckett had 12.

Sophomore Gada Clay had 16 points for Vicksburg.

The Missy Gators was only able to score on two free throws by Pleasure King in the first quarter and trailed 16-2. They bounced back in the second quarter to score 10 points, but still trailed 29-12 at halftime.

After the Missy Gators (4-15, 0-5 Division 4-5A) made a run in the third quarter to get the deficit to single digits, Lanier got hot from the field again and raised its lead to 20 points. Lanier (18-4, 5-1) only made two field goals in the first four minutes of the fourth quarter, but the damage had already been done.

“We got (the lead) down to single digits at one point,” Hartzog said. “They did work hard. They’re growing each day so that helps.”