By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
JACKSONVILLE--Forrest City Mustang Coach Dwight Lofton knew Tuesday's trip to Jacksonville could be trouble.
He was right.
A blocking call against Forrest City with 3.4 seconds left in the game sent Jacksonville guard Nick Smith to the foul line where he sank two free throws to seal a 51-49 Red Devil win.
"About that call, I'll say this," Forrest City's Dwight Lofton said. "At Forrest City it's a charge, at Jacksonville it's a block."
After losing their first three conference games, Jacksonville has won three straight AAAAA-East games to improve to 3-3 in the league and 8-10 overall.
Smith finished with 13 points to lead Jacksonville.
Daffy Norment led Forrest City with 16 points while Kwantin King had 15.
The Mustangs slip to 3-3 in the conference and 6-9 overall. They will host the always dangerous Cabot Panthers Friday at Mustang Arena.
Cabot lost to Little Rock Mills 69-50 Tuesday night.
"If we take care of business Friday against Cabot, we can still turn the corner at 4-3 in the league and we're still in good shape," Lofton said. "If you think about it, we're just 20 seconds away from being 5-1 right now instead of 3-3."
The Mustangs lost to Blytheville in the final 17 seconds and to Jacksonville in the final three seconds.
Jacksonville led 31-22 at the half after outscoring the Mustangs 24-to-10 in the second period.
Forrest City took the opening tip and reeled off nine straight points for a 9-0 lead and ended the first period leading 12-7.
Jacksonville went to its full-court press and the Mustangs suffered five turnovers in the second quarter. That sparked a 10-0 Jacksonville run.
Forrest City trailed by 10 points, 41-31 to start the fourth period but used an 8-to-2 run to cut Jacksonville's lead to 43-39 late in the fourth.
Forrest City starters James Johnson and Mark Lewis fouled out with 3:34 left in the game.
The Mustangs tied the game at 49-49 on a Norment jumper with 17 seconds remaining.
Senior Girls
Jacksonville 65, Forrest City 53
The Forrest City Lady Mustangs couldn't overcome 30 turnovers Tuesday against Jacksonville and suffered a 65-53 loss to the Lady Devils.
Forrest City (5-8 overall and 1-5) trailed 11-8 after one period.
Forrest City battled back in the second period to lead 28-25 at the break.
Jacksonville regained the lead with a 22-to-16 scoring burst in the third period.
Caronica Randle led Forrest City with a season-high 23 point performance while Deosha Agnew added 16 points.
Randle were perfect from the foul line, hitting 12-of-12 attempts. Agnew hit 8-of-9 free throws as the Lady Mustangs shot 71 percent from the line.
Erika Haggans and Leslie Jayore both finished with four points and Jayroe had a game-high five blocked shots.
Rachel Townsend led Jacksonville with 20 points while Brandi Rogers aded 19 points.
Jacksonville improves to 10-6 and 4-2 in the AAAAA-East standings.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
GILLETT--Another night at the 6AA Conference office for the Palestine-Wheatley Lady Patriots.
Led by Erica Smith's 22 points, the Lady Patriots cruised past the Gillett Lady Wolves 79-22 Tuesday night.
Junior guard Nikki Bass added 18 points and senior guard Carlene Gardner helped out with 10.
Starting forward Melanie Baker and part-time starter Tammy Griffin did not play. Both are trying to recuperate from the flu.
The Lady Patriots led 24-2 after the opening period allowing P-W Coach Beverly Bass the chance to play her bench.
Nikita Love led the reserves with nine points while Kristin Wilburn had seven and Sheryl Moore and Libby Martin finished with four points each.
The Lady Patriots will open play tonight at the Dual State Tournament, being held in Junction City.
P-W faces Huttig at 6:45 p.m.
Senior Boys
Palestine-Wheatley 93, Gillett 47
Leroy Bell scored 38 points and Michael Barnes added 29 points Tuesday as the Palestine-Wheatley Patriots took a convincing 93-47 win over Gillett.
It is the third straight victory for the Patriots who find themselves right back in the thick of the 6AA Conference race at 4-3. The Patriots are 7-9 overall.
"I really think we are starting to come together and gel as a team," said Patriots' Coach Terry Clardy. "We struggled early in the year but Leroy, Michael and several other players have started to come on and are shooting the basketball very well."
The Patriots will travel to Marvell on Friday as conference play continues.
The P-W junior girls will tip at 5 p.m. and the junior varsity Lady Patriots will play at approximately 6:15 p.m.
The senior boys will play the third game, beginning at about 7:30 p.m.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
The Palestine-Wheatley Lady Patriots left early this morning for Junction City -- site of the state's longest running high school basketball tournament, the Dual State Tournament.
Seeded No. 1 into the bracket, the Lady Patriots 18-1 and ranked third in the state, will open tonight against the Huttig Lady Eagles at 6:45 p.m.
Some would say an out-manned Huttig team.
"We will show up, play hard, give it all we got," said Huttig Coach Roy Backus. "But we are clearly the underdog in this game and there is no way we can match up with Palestine-Wheatley."
Huttig is 10-12 coming in and are very young. The team graduated seven seniors a year ago and has only seven roster players this season.
"If I had to compare Palestine-Wheatley to one of the teams in our conference, it would be Kingsland," Backus said.
Kingsland is ranked second in Class AA, right behind the top-ranked Lady Patriots.
P-W Coach Beverly Bass said her Lady Patriots would have a short practice today at Junction City.
Senior forward Melanie Baker, out with the flu, did not dress out against Gillett Tuesday. She is expected to be back in the starting lineup tonight.
In senior girls' action Tuesday at the Dual State Tournament, Fordyce defeated El Dorado Westside Christian 59-25.
A Palestine-Wheatley win tonight over Huttig puts them against Fordyce Thursday night in second round action.
Parker's Chapel defeated last year's girls' champion Warren, 90-30 and Emerson ousted Norphlet 35-27.
In senior boys' play Tuesday, Warren defeated Westside Christian 62-45 and Union defeated Norphlet a 68-40.
Blytheville played without two starters -- including second-leading scorer Anthony Handy -- and overcame an 11-0 deficit to edge Jonesboro 44-42 Tuesday in AAAAA-East play.
Handy and fellow starter Marvin Fowler were each suspended for one game.
Jonesboro's boys hit their first four shots and jumped to an 11-0 lead.
Blytheville trailed 21-17 at halftime and continued the momentum into the third quarter, when the Chicks took their first lead of the game, on Sherrick Sherman's tip-in of his own miss. That bucket put Blytheville ahead 29-28 with 2:37 remaining in the frame.
Senior swingman Lorenzo Hampton, who finished with a game-high 19 points, turned a three-point play with just 30.7 seconds left in the quarter to make it 33-33 entering the fourth. Junior post player Greg Jones, hit two free throws with 5:20 left to give Jonesboro its last tie of the game, 37-37.
Travian Smith and Curtis Smith each finished with 12 points to lead Blytheville (12-5, 5-1 AAAAA-East), while Sherman added nine. Rose and Greg Jones each had eight points for Jonesboro (11-7, 3-3).
Clarksville Panthers 77, Ozark 66
Clarksville center, Gavin Ludgood, had 18 points and 15 rebounds in the first half and finished with 20 points, 22 rebounds and 5 blocked shots.
Clarksville improves to 17-2 overall and led 34-22 at half.
The Panthers, who were among the eight-team Forrest City Rumble on the Ridge Tournament field, led by as many as 19 points before Ozark rallied in the fourth quarter.
George Tate added 20 points for Clarksville.
LR Mills 69, Cabot 50
Little Rock stayed perfect in the AAAAA-East Conference Tuesday, improving to 6-0 for the year with a 69-50 win over Cabot Tuesday. Mills is 13-3 overall.
Mills scored the game's first 19 points.
Sophomore Bam Doyne scored 26 points and was perfect from the foul line, hitting 11 of 11 free throws.
Cabot (7-9, 0-5) did not score until 10 seconds into the second quarter when junior Tommy Williams completed a three-point play.
Mills scored the next seven points. The Comets went on to lead 30-5 with four minutes left in the first half.
Williams finished with 24 points for Cabot and had six rebounds. Carlos Merriweather added 12 points for Mills.
No. 1 LR Hall 73, Mt. Home 46
Top-ranked Little Rock Hall weathered an early scare to post a 73-46 victory over Mountain Home Tuesday night.
Hall (14-0, 6-0 AAAAA-Central) trailed 15-6 after the first period but rallied to outscore Mountain Home 24-11 in the second quarter.
Anthony Smith and Chris Staff had 19 points each for Hall.
Senior Girls
Jonesboro 49, Blytheville 45
The Lady Hurricane returned senior guard LeAnn Upshaw a week after the Tulsa signee injured her right knee, but had to play all but 3:18 of Tuesday's 49-45 victory without their other Division I signee as Memphis recruit Jennifer Sullivan went down with an injury to her left knee.
Jonesboro stayed unbeaten in conference at 6-0 and improved to 17-2 overall.
LSU signee Wendlyn Jones had a game-high 16 points and 10 rebounds for Blytheville.