By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
The Forrest City Blue Lady Mustangs won their third straight game Thursday night, defeating West Memphis Wonder 45-42 at the Barn.
Katrina Wynne poured in 23 points to lead the Blue Lady Mustangs who improve to 9-6 overall for the year and 6-5 in the conference. Eleven of Wynne's point total came in the first half.
Thursday's win gives Forrest City a sweep over Wonder. The Blue Lady Mustangs won the first meeting 39-34.
Forrest City opened a 7-0 lead and led 9-6 after one period.
Wonder battled back to tie the game at 17-17 with one minute to play in the first half, before Gabrielle Agnew hit a putback basket with .3 seconds to play to put the Blue Lady Mustangs in front 19-17 at the half.
Forrest City put together another 10-0 run midway through the third period to push their lead to 29-17. They held on to a 31-25 edge to begin the final period.
The Blue Lady Mustangs final push came after taking a 34-31 lead in the fourth when Agnew's rebound and follow of a miss started an 11-0 run which gave Forrest City a 45-31 edge with 1:30 to play. Wynne scored six of the 11 points.
Wonder finished by scoring the final 11 points of the game.
Agnew finished with nine points and Torrie Willis added seven.
Junior Boys
WMemphis Wonder 43, FCity Blue Mustangs 15
West Memphis Wonder got 21 points from big man Desma McCoy (19 of that in the first half) to put away the Forrest City Blue Mustangs 43-15 Thursday at the Barn.
The Blue Mustangs trailed 10-8 after one period and 21-10 at the half.
Wonder held the home team to five, second half points while scoring 22 of their own to set the final.
Deangelo Braddock finished with seven points. The Forrest City eighth graders played the final period.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
Forrest City takes to the road for a key conference matchup while Hughes plays their fifth home game in their last six outings and Palestine-Wheatley takes a conference breather.
The Mustangs and Lady Mustangs take the floor at Blue Devil Gym tonight against the West Memphis Blue Devils.
West Memphis is coming off a Tuesday sweep over Cabot while the Mustangs earned a split against Little Rock Mills at home.
The Mustangs, 2-2 in the AAAAA-East, need a win over the Blue Devils tonight to help them reach their goal of turning the first-half "conference corner" at a respectable 4-3.
"That has been our goal, to be 4-3 at the turn-around," said Forrest City's Dwight Lofton. "If we're there, we're okay for the second half. If we get to 5-2, I'm ecstatic."
Standing in the Mustangs' way beyond tonight, is Jacksonville and Cabot -- two teams who are clearly struggling -- but are by no means considered to be "pushovers."
"We have to take care of our business," Lofton said. "And now, that means winning on the road.
Meanwhile, the Hughes Blue Devils will be looking for their 13th consecutive win tonight when they host Brinkley.
Hughes is ranked second in Class AAA and are undefeated in 6AAA Conference play.
Tonight's game signals the beginning of the second half of league play in the 6AAA.
Closest to Hughes is Lonoke at 5-1 in the standings.
Lonnie Smith, Robert Davis, Paul Doolittle and Tim Jones continue to be impressive for Hughes, who are coming off probably their biggest win in recent years Tuesday.
Playing at Pine Bluff Dollarway, an arena they where they had never won, Hughes took the Cardinals to overtime for an 84-82 win.
Smith exploded for 39 points, a career best.
In a battle between the two highly athletic teams, Dollarway led the first half, taking a 40-27 lead at the break.
Cedric Dunn and Brandon Mays, 11 points each and William Shorter combined to net 29 of the Cardinal's first half total by simply taking advantage of a much smaller Hughes ball club.
Behind a host of steals, the Blue Devils (21-1) finished the quarter on a 25-10 jaunt with Smith tallying a blistering 19 and three three-point conversions to muster a 54-54 tie going into the final quarter.
Both teams put up 13 points in the final frame to force overtime.
Palestine-Wheatley's Patriots ended a three-game slide Tuesday with a 6AA Conference win over Elaine.
Tonight the Patriots step away from the conference schedule to host the Ouachita Warriors, a team they lost to last year 63-39.
"For the first time in several games (against Elaine) we shot the ball well," said Patriot Coach Terry Clardy.
Clardy is getting solid point production from blue-collar worker Leroy Bell and three-point specialist Michael Barnes.
The Patriots have some talented players. They just need to put their complete game together.
That would make for a solid second-half run trough a salty conference.
In girls' action, the Forrest City Lady Mustangs picked up their first AAAAA-East Conference victory on Tuesday with a win over Little Rock Mills.
The Lady Mustangs started slowly and were only up by four at the half but started the second half with an impressive 10-0 run as they went back to their full-court press.
When their on their game, Caronica Randle, Kanetra Pendleton and Deosha Agnew are hard to live with on the hardwood.
Pendleton accounted for five thefts against the Lady Comets.
As a team, the Lady Mustangs are still struggling from the foul line and from the perimeter. They are getting better on the boards. Against Mills, the Lady Mustangs grabbed 23 defensive rebounds and eight offensive rebounds.
The P-W Lady Patriots are steaming along in their conference, the weakest girls league in the state, and tonight's nonconference matchup against Ouachita should be a good one.
A year ago, at Ouachita, the Lady Warriors used a late three-pointer to stun the Lady Patriots 55-54, handing the P-W ladies only their third loss of the year.
Palestine-Wheatley is ranked third overall in the state and first in Class AA. Ouachita isn't ranked.
Look for some payback to be meted out tonight by the Lady Patriots. On their home floor, they are almost unbeatable.
Erica Smith continues to be the best overall player in the state and her supporting cast of Melanie Baker, Carlene Gardner, Nikki Bass and Sheryl Moore are providing outstanding support. The P-W sophomores are beginning to come into their own. Beth Varvil has looked solid recently as have Nikita Love and Brittany Flenory.
Hughes Head Steve Maynard is just trying to keep a smile on his face.
Maynard's Lady Blue Devils have not won a game this season and have been hammered (without provocation) by many of the conference teams.
He has lost by 33 to Brinkley, 50 against Dumas and by more than 40 to Dollarway.
That has prompted Maynard to think about "icing the ball" which may begin as soon as tonight when the Lady Devils host Brinkley in the return match.
"We haven't been scoring a lot of points," Maynard said. "So if we can't score, we may just hold the ball. There's no reason for a coach to beat us by 40 or 50 points. I'm a nice guy but There's only so much you can take."
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
WEST MEMPHIS--It was a tough night for the Forrest City White Mustang teams.
Playing on the road at West Memphis West, the White Mustangs suffered a 54-34 loss while the While Lady Mustangs fell 31-27.
The West junior boys used a 27-point third period to open up a sizable lead over the White Mustangs and cruised to the final.
West led 7-2 after one period and pushed that advantage to 17-11 at the half.
The White Mustangs (3-10) scored just six points in the third period.
Maurice Lowe scored seven points for the White Mustangs while Goldie Hicks and Lorenzo Spearman each scored five points.
Junior Girls
WMemphis West 31, FC White Lady Mustangs 27
The White Lady Mustangs got into foul trouble early in the game but still managed to keep it close, losing to West Memphis West 31-27 Thursday night in junior high basketball action.
Forrest City led 7-6 after one period but the West girls scored 15 points in the second period to lead 21-9 at the half.
Sequoria Grady led Forrest City with 15 points while Shari Rogers added six points.
The White Mustangs will host Jonesboro MacArthur Monday at the Barn.
by FRED CONLEY
While I am very glad that I am not in charge of compiling the state high school basketball rankings each week, I do reserve to the right to differ in my opinions about the state poll.
Currently, two St. Francis County basketball teams can be found among this listing of the state's "supposed" elite teams.
The Palestine-Wheatley Lady Patriots are ranked first in Class AA girls and are ranked third overall in the state.
They own season victories over two of the remaining top 10 girls' teams. They've beaten No. 4 Ozark twice and No. Jonesboro once.
At this writing, they are the best girls' team in Class AA.
And it's nice to see a AA teams getting some well-deserved recognition in the overall rankings.
It was back during the Rumble on the Ridge (Thanksgiving) that I mentioned to Arkansas-Democrat sports writer Tim Cooper (who compiles the weekly rankings) that it is going to be difficult for him to overlook the Lady Patriots this season once the rankings start to appear.
I also put in my two cents worth for the Hughes Blue Devils -- quite possibly the best "little team" in Class AAA.
Apparently Tim listened.
The Blue Devils are ranked second in Class AAA and their season record of 20-1 is the best among all of the AA boys teams listed in the rankings. It is also better than all of the top 10 overall boys' teams and the AAAA and the AA.
While I am excited that Wes Swift's program is finally getting the attention it deserves, I have to question why Hughes is not ranked in the overall top 10.
And why they are not ranked first in Class AAA.
A win tonight over Brinkley will be the 13th consecutive victory for the Blue Devils.
They have already won the first half of the 6AAA round robin-style conference and barring a natural disaster, should roll undefeated through the second half.
The Blue Devils reached the semifinals of the AAA state tournament a year ago.
Swift's bunch have a very real chance to slip a ring on their fingers this season.
Meanwhile, P-W's Beverly Bass has just missed the golden rings the past two seasons, finishing as the AA state runner-up in 1999 and 2000 -- each time losing to Greenland in the finals.
They should be back this year, but with the bracket changes, their opponent in the overall final won't be the Lady Pirates this time around.
By the way, Greenland is still Greenland, but have struggled a little more this season than in past years.
The Lady Patriots are in the middle of a very easy conference run (the 6AA being one of the weakest girls leagues in the state).
Tonight, they step away from conference play for a nonconference matchup against the Ouachita Lady Warriors.
Bass figures her Lady Pats have a debt to pay.
The Lady Warriors used a late three-pointer to nip P-W 55-54.
After this week, the Lady Patriots open play in the prestigious Dual State Tournament at Junction City, Ark-La.
They are the favorites in their half of the bracket and maybe the overall favorites. More, later.
Fast-pitch girls' softball leagues and teams are now forming in Marion. The leagues will be made up of 12-under, 14-under and 18-under. In the 18-under, girls must have one year of high school eligibility remaining to play. For more information or to sign up, contact Glenn Pennington at (870) 739-2381. Deadline to register is March 1.
Forrest City's youth baseball and softball registration is now under way and will run through March 3. Men's and women's adult softball registration is also under way and will run through April 3. Youth baseball and softball fees are $15 for youths living inside the Forrest City city limits and $25 for those living outside the city limits. For more information call, 633-3667.