By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
The Forrest City Mustangs won their third straight AAAAA-East Conference game Friday night and kept the Sylvan Hills Bears winless in the league with a 62-52 win at Mustang Arena.
It could have been the homecoming activities at Forrest City or it could have been that the Mustangs were coming off a highly-emotional win over Blytheville on Tuesday that caused the game to be -- for the most part -- an ugly effort on the part of both teams.
Or it could simply have been the fact that Sylvan Hills at 3-14 overall and 0-8 in the conference causing the Mustangs to play down to the Bears' level.
Everything was sloppy," said Mustang Coach Dwight Lofton. "The passing, the shooting, the transition game, it was just ugly. But, as everyone says, it's a "w" and right now we'll take it."
Daffy Norment led the Mustangs with 23 points while Kwantin King added 18 and James Johnson finished with 10. King hit eight of his total in the third period while Norment struck for 10 of his point total in the fourth period.
The win keeps the Mustangs in a tie for third place in the East standings with Jonesboro.
For a half, the Bears just wouldn't go away and the Mustangs let them keep hanging around.
Forrest City led 20-15 after one period but only 28-25 at the half.
Forrest City outscored the Bears 16-to-14 in the third period and held on to a slim 44-39 lead to start the final period.
Sylvan Hills actually led early in the third period and the Mustangs actually pushed their lead to 10 points before letting the Bears right back into the game.
With 5:40 left in the game, Forrest City built their lead back to 10, leading 51-41.
The Bears trimmed it to 52-43 with 4:14 to play and 52-45 with 3:10 showing.
Norment answered the distress call with a rebound of a Jason Jones miss and put it back through to put the Mustangs up 54-45.
Damon Harris' baseline layup with 2:25 left to play got the Bears back within seven at 54-47.
Johnson hit one of two free throws and Jones banked home a pull-up jumper to get the Mustangs back to a 57-47 lead with 1:55 to play.
Norment, after a Bears' turnover, went coast-to-coast for the layup and a 12-point Forrest City lead with 1:10 showing.
Harris added two free throws and then hit a layup with 35 seconds left to cut the Mustang lead back to 59-52 before Jones and Johnson finished off the effort by hitting three of four free throw chances.
The Mustangs improve to 9-9 overall for the year and stand at 6-3 in the East.
Jeremy Brown scored 21 for Sylvan Hills while Harris finished with 10 and Joseph Robinson added seven.
Kevin King chipped in six points for the Mustangs and Brandon Cochran finished with three.
The Mustangs will face Jonesboro Tuesday night at Jonesboro.
In other East boys' games Friday, Jonesboro defeated Cabot 77-55, Little Rock Mills topped West Memphis 79-64 and Blytheville put away Jacksonville 68-48.
Senior Girls
Sylvan Hills 43, Forrest City 30
The Forrest City Lady Mustangs fell to 5-11 overall for the year Friday and 1-8 in the conference after losing to Sylvan Hills 43-30 at Mustang Arena.
"It was a good, solid effort and we probably should have won the game," said Lady Mustang Coach Sue Jayroe. "We were a little short-handed, playing without junior forward Deosha Agnew, who is sick."
The Lady Mustangs are basically out of the hunt for a postseason berth in the state tournament.
The Lady Bears, led by 13 points from Jennifer Brown and 11 points from April Harris, led 9-3 after one period and 23-13 at the half.
Kanetra Pendleton and Leslie Jayroe each scored eight points for Forrest City while Caronica Randle added six.
Pendleton had a pair of steals to go along with her poiint total while Jayroe pulled down eight rebounds and blocked four shots. Randle had eight rebounds and two assists in the game.
Forrest City suffered 23 turnovers in the game.
The Lady Mustangs will play Jonesboro Tuesday on the road at Jonesboro.
In other games Friday, Blytheville defeated Jacksonville 53-40, Jonesboro rocked Cabot 78-59 and West Memphis downed Mills 64-30.
Senior forward Erica Smith suffered a chipped front tooth in a bazaar accident in the second period of Friday's game against the Barton Lady Bears.
Smith, who leads the No. 2 ranked Palestine-Wheatley Lady Patriots in scoring, left for emergency medical attention and her teammates more than picked up the scoring slack on their way to a 76-35 win over Barton.
In fact, after the accident, with 6:17 left in the second period, the Lady Patriots went on a 16-to-5 run to lead 42-8 at the half.
The Lady Patriots held Barton to just two field goals in the first half.
Smith left the game with 16 points. Nikki Bass led the charge with 17 points while Melanie Baker added 15 and Carlene Gardner had 11. Brittney Flenory came off the bench to hit eight points.
Trinia Williams led Barton with nine points.
The Lady Patriots improve to 25-1 overall and 10-0 in the 6AA Conference.
They will play at Altheimer Tuesday night and will close out regular season play by hosting Elaine Thursday, Feb. 8, for parent's night at Patriot Gym.
The Palestine-Wheatley Junior Lady Patriots lost to Barton 47-16.
Blytheville 53, Jacksonville 40
Blytheville's sister act was too much for Jacksonville to handle Friday night.
LSU signee Wendlyn Jones teamed up with her sister, junior Audrey Jones, to lead the Lady Chicks to a 53-40 AAAAA-East victory over the Lady Red Devils in the Devils Den.
The Jones sisters scored all but two of the Chicks' first half points as Blytheville (12-6, 5-4) used a 12-0 run to overcome a 9-8 first-quarter deficit. Wendlyn finished with 20 points and 19 rebounds while Audrey added 11 points.
Jacksonville falls to 13-7 overall and 6-3 in the conference.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
ENGLAND--The ninth-ranked Hughes Blue Devils won their 16th straight game Friday, posting a 67-37 win over England in 6AAA Conference action.
The Blue Devils improve to 24-1 for the year and are 10-0 in the league.
Hughes has two regular season conference games remaining -- Tuesday at Lonoke and Friday when they host Pine Bluff Dollarway.
A win over Lonoke Tuesday night would give Hughes the outright conference title.
In just two quarters of playing time, Lonnie Smith scored 17 Friday to lead Hughes while Robert Davis added 13 points.
Hughes led 16-5 after one period, 31-20 at the half and 52-28 to start the fourth period.
Senior Girls
England 63, Hughes 43
The Hughes Lady Blue Devils notched a moral victory Friday night, putting up 43 points in a loss to England.
The 42-points is the most scored this season by the Lady Blue Devils.
Rachel Burks nailed five, three-pointers to lead Hughes with 16 points while Takindra Smith hit four, threes to finish with 12 points.
Junior Girls
Hughes 42, England 6
The Junior Lady Blue Devils ended their regular season Friday with a 42-6 conference win over England.
The victory gives Hughes the No. 3 seed into the 6AAA Junior District Tournament, which begins today at Lonoke.
Hughes will play No. 6 seed Pine Bluff Dollarway, Wednesday, Feb. 7, at 7:30 p.m. The winner returns Thursday at 4:30 to play either DeWitt or England in the semifinal round.
Marley Lemons led Hughes with 10 points while LaToya Dobbins chipped in nine points.
Registration for the Forrest City youth baseball, softball and adult softball is now under way and will continue through March 3.
Youth league fees are $15 for youths living inside the Forrest City city limits and $25 for those living outside the city limits.
Registration for the city's adult men's and women's softball program will run through April 3.
For more information call 633-3667.