By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
BEEBE -- The seventh-ranked Hughes Blue Devils used a 15-to-6 scoring run in the second period of Saturday's Class AAA Region 3 final to hold off Pulaski Academy 45-41 at the Badger Sports Arena.
The Blue Devils (31-1) will wear one of the four No. 1 seeds into the Class AAA State Tournament which begins Tuesday at Riverview High School in Searcy.
Hughes will face Dardanelle, the No. 4 seed from Region 1 in Tuesday's first round game at 5:30 p.m.
The Blue Devils are making their third consecutive appearance in the state tournament. Last year, the Blue Devils reached the semifinal round before being eliminated by defending AAA champions Lonoke. Two years ago, the Blue Devils lost to Mena in the first round played at Fountain Lake.
Pulaski Academy will play Dermott in its first-round game, Thursday at 5:30 p.m. Lonoke, a No. 3 seed this year, will play Ozark in their opener and Dumas, the No. 4 seed will play Warren.
Pulaski Academy led 11-6 in the first quarter but Hughes made the switch to a man-to-man defense which made the difference for the Blue Devils.
It was the second straight regional tournament game, the Blue Devils came out of the starting blocks slowly.
Friday night, in the semifinal against Dumas, the Blue Devils fell behind 11-2 in the first period before waking up for a 64-48 win over the Bobcats.
"We've been known as a slow starting team in most of our games," said Hughes Coach Wes Swift, who earned his first regional title in four seasons as the Blue Devils head coach. "But we play 32 minutes so we kept our poise and did not get flustered."
Swift said winning the regional and getting the No. 1 seed put his Blue Devils right where they wanted to be.
"We're in the top half and that is a good draw for us," Swift said. "All first round games are tough, but I think we will match up well against Dardanelle. I don't know much about them but we will before Tuesday's game."
Paul Doolittle's three-pointer from the top of the key with six minutes to play in the second got the Blue Devils within 11-9.
Lonnie Smith, one of three Blue Devils named to the All-Tournament team, nailed a three-pointer to put the Blue Devils in the lead for good. DeMarcus Burks was also named to the team.
Pulaski Academy got within one point with 2:22 remaining, but four Bruins turnovers hurt their comeback chances.
Smith's steal and layup put the Blue Devils up 42-39 with 59 seconds left.
Robert Davis, named the tournament's most valuable player, hit 3 of 4 free throws in the last 29 seconds to put the game away for the Blue Devils.
Davis finished with 15 points while Smith added 10.
For the three games in the tournament, Davis was the Blue Devils' most consistent scorer with 17 against Lamar, 19 against Dumas and 15 against P.A.
Hughes 64, Dumas 48
Lonnie Smith scored 21 points Friday to push the Blue Devils past Dumas in semifinal action at the Class AAA Region 3 Tournament.
Robert Davis finished with 19 and DeMarcus Burks and Chris Crawford added six points each.
Dumas led 15-9 after one period and both teams went to the half locked at 31-31.
Hughes scored 17 points in the third period to lead 49-46 to start the fourth.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
SEARCY -- The Palestine-Wheatley Lady Patriots won their third consecutive Class AA Region 6 championship Saturday by putting away the home team Harding Academy Lady Wildcats 77-64, before a capacity crowd of 1,200 fans at Harris Gym.
Now the work begins for the second-ranked Lady Patriots.
The No. 1 seeded Lady Patriots begin play in the Class AA State Tournament Tuesday at Danville. They are in the bottom half of a very loaded bracket, which includes Marmaduke, Kingsland and Greenland, all No. 1 seeds.
They will face Lewisville Tuesday at 4 p.m.
A win over Lewisville will probably result in a second-round matchup against Marmaduke. P-W and Marmaduke have not played each other since Marmaduke defeated the Lady Pats 62-55 in the semifnnals of the Class A Regionals during the 1997-98 season.
To get back to AA Overall Final at Pine Bluff (March 9-10), for the third straight year, P-W will have to go through Greenland or Kingsland in Saturday's semifinal.
The Lady Patriots have lost to Greenland the past two years in the championship game.
Palestine-Wheatley, ranked first in Class AA, won their 24th consecutive game Saturday and stand at 31-1.
Harding Academy, 26-3, lost for the first time in 16 games.
Harding Academy will open Class AA state tournament play Wednesday at 4 p.m., against Centerpoint, the Region 7 champion.
After being delayed at Cotton Plant for almost 45 minutes due to the severe weather that crossed the state Saturday afternoon and arriving at Harris Gym 45 minutes past game time, the Lady Patriots jumped out to an 18-4 first quarter lead before the Lady Wildcats worked their way back into the game.
Erica Smith, who was named the tournament's most valuable player, put the game on her shoulders, scoring 38 points -- 19 points in each half.
Smith had 15 in the first quarter, including a pair of 3-pointers.
"They have the best starting five in the state," Harding Academy coach David Collins said after watching his team cut P-W's lead to 10 points late in the fourth period.
Smith led four P-W players in double figures. Nikki Bass finished with 11 while Carlene Gardner and Melanie Baker had 10 each. Sheryl Moore just missed double figures, finishing with eight points.
Harding Academy's leading scorer, sophomore Ashley Dixon had 14 points in the third quarter and finished with 27, including five three-pointers.
Jennifer Swinney, Harding Academy's 6-2 sophomore center, who blocked Smith's first two shot attempts, finished with 19.
Palestine-Wheatley led 32-12 early in the second quarter after Bass nailed one of her two treys. Harding Academy got to within 38-25 on two free throws each by Marcy Todd and Swinney. Free throws by Micah Rine and Catrina Kelly got Harding back within 40-27 at the half.
P-W increased its lead to 48-31 in the third period and led 59-45 to start the fourth period after back-to-back three-pointers from Rine and Dixon.
The Lady Patriots used a 6-1 run to open the final quarter, and led 65-46 with 5:58 left before Swinney hit three consecutive baskets to cut it to 65-52 with 4:53 left.
Swinney's layup at the 1:12 mark again cut the lead to 13 and Dixon got it to 12 with a trey with 56 seconds left.
Smith fouled out with 50 seconds left in the game and Kelly dropped in two free throws to cut the P-W lead to 73-63.
Moore hit two free throws for P-W with 41 seconds left and Baker caught all net with her final shot at the buzzer to provide the winning margin.
"Harding is a good little team," said P-W Coach Beverly Bass. "They started three sophomores, one junior and one senior and they played several other sophomores. A year or so down the road, they will be tough to play."
Palestine-Wheatley's entire starting five were named to the All-Tournament team.
Palestine-Wheatley 67, Carlisle 31
Erica Smith scored 22 points Friday and Nikki Bass added 11 as the Lady Patriots defeated the Carlisle Lady Bison 67-31 in semifinal action at the Class AA Region 6 Tournament at Harding Academy.
P-W jumped to a 15-3 lead after one period, with Smith scoring 11 of the first 15 points.
By the half, the Lady Patriots were leading comfortably 33-6, and had held Carlisle to one field goal in the first half.
With Smith on the bench, saddled with four personal fouls, Sheryl Moore picked up the scoring slack in the second period to score eight points.
Moore finished with 16 points while Carlene Gardner added six points.
The Lady Patriots pushed their lead to 48-13 to start the fourth period.
Smith fouled out with less than a minute to play and each of the remaining P-W starters finished the game with four personal fouls each.
Carlisle was led by Tiffany Myers with 12 points while Ashley Collins added nine points.
It was the fourth victory over Carlisle in four meetings, dating back to the 1996-97 season for the Lady Patriots.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
Despite losing the welcome banner to high winds over the weekend, Forrest City is ready and poised to start the Class AAAAA state tournament Tuesday at Mustang Arena.
Top-ranked Little Rock Central opens the Class AAAAA boys state high school basketball tournament Tuesday afternoon against Jonesboro.
The host team Forrest City Mustangs, seeded third into the boys' bracket, won't play their first-round game until Thursday, March 1, at 5:30 p.m. They will battle Camden-Fairview.
In the girls tournament, No. 1 Fort Smith Northside doesn't play until Wednesday. In the first round, Northside takes on Little Rock Parkview.
In other state tournaments, Second-ranked Osceola opens play against Hot Springs Lakeside in Class AAAA at Greenbrier on Tuesday afternoon. No. 2 Ozark also plays Wednesday, against Highland in the AAA tournament in Searcy.
The Class AA tournament is at Danville. Class A takes place at Harrison.
The semifinals in each tournament are Saturday, and the finalists meet the following week in Pine Bluff.
For a complete listing of all first-round state tournament games, check the two boxes found to the left of this article.
The Hughes Blue Devils and Palestine-Wheatley Lady Patriots both open state tournament play on Tuesday.
Hughes will play Dardanelle at Searcy and P-W will play Lewisville at Danville.