By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
JUNCTION CITY--Huttig's worst fears turned into reality Wednesday night against the third-ranked Palestine-Wheatley Lady Patriots.
With just seven roster players, Huttig wasn't even on the same page as the Lady Patriots, who cruised to an easy 68-26 victory at the Dual State Tournament being played at Junction City.
The Lady Patriots are the No. 1 seeded team into the tournament, even though P-W is making it's first-ever appearance in the state's oldest basketball tournament.
"Huttig is about like Marvell in our conference," said Lady Patriots Coach Beverly Bass.
Huttig downed Taylor 41-23 Saturday to earn the right to face P-W.
The Lady Patriots, 19-1, will face Class AAA Fordyce tonight at 6:45 in a quarterfinal game.
Fordyce, 13-5, earned the right to go against Palestine-Wheatley with a 59-25 win over El Dorado West Side Tuesday.
Palestine-Wheatley scored the first 20 points against Huttig, holding the Lady Eagles to three shot attempts in the first six minutes.
Huttig finally got on the board on a bucket by Brittney Schoonover with 1:11 left in the first. The Lady Patriots responded with a 21-2 run, which included nine straight points by Nikki Bass. Palestine-Wheatley built a 41-4 lead at the half.
The Lady Patriots started their subs in the third quarter as Huttig went on a 7-1 spurt but maintained a 48-15 cushion going into the final period. Palestine-Wheatley's starters returned in the fourth, pushing the advantage to 62-18 with 3:20 left in the game.
Erica Smith, regarded by many as the best player in the state, scored 13 points in the first six minutes, most coming off steals and layups. The 5-11 senior drained a 3-pointer with 2:03 left in the opening quarter for the 20-0 lead.
Smith, a Louisiana Tech signee, led the Lady Patriots with 23 points, eight rebounds and seven steals. Bass scored 18 with three steals and senior forward Melanie Baker had eight.
Tabatha Burson hit two 3-pointers and led Huttig with eight points. Tiffany Burson scored six with Schoonover tallying six with nine rebounds. Erin Mathews and Emily Heard each scored three.
"Melanie and Tammy Griffin are still recovering from the flu," said Bass. "They played but weren't on the floor long at all.
Bass said several Louisiana Tech fans were at Wednesday's game as well as Ruston's local TV station, which interviewed Smith.
Today's schedule included a light workout for the Lady Patriots at noon.
A win over Fordyce tonight will bring the Lady Patriots back to the court on Saturday for a semifinal game at 11 a.m.
Union 46, Walker 30
The Lady Cyclones struggled throughout the first three quarters before wearing down the Lady Hornets 46-30 in Dual State action Wednesday. Union used an 18-1 run in the final period to pull away from a pesky Walker squad.
The Lady Cyclones, 19-8, will take on Emerson (20-5) Friday at 6:45 p.m.
Union led 19-17 at the half and was up 23-17 a minute into the third quarter.
Summerfield (La.) 51, Junction City 31
Latasha Gill scored 24 points to lead the Lady Rebels past Junction City in the Dual State Tournament Wednesday. Summerfield takes on McNeil today at 3:30 p.m.
The Lady Rebels trailed 7-4 before going on a 12-3 run. Gill scored 10 points in that run, which gave Summerfield a 16-10 lead midway in the second quarter. Tasha Creer scored two baskets for Junction City before the Lady Rebels scored 12 unanswered points, holding the Lady Dragons scoreless for four minutes.
Summerfield led 37-22 going into the final period.
Creer led the Lady Dragons with 20 points and five rebounds. Shelbi Carpenter scored five with eight boards and four blocked shots.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
The Forrest City Blue Mustang teams will host Blytheville West tonight at Mustang Arena.
The White Mustang teams will be on the road at Jonesboro Annie Camp.
The Blue Mustangs are coming off a 44-25 loss to Blytheville East Monday while the Blue Lady Mustangs suffered a 52-28 loss against the East girls.
The East girls improve to 11-1 in conference play.
The East girls led 14-8 at the close of the first quarter, then turned up the defensive pressure and led 29-12 at the half.
The Blytheville East boys and girls will host West Memphis Wonder today.
The Blytheville West girls are coming off a 35-33 win over Annie Camp while the West boys rolled Annie Camp 52-30.
The Blue teams will tip at 5 p.m. when the varsity girls take the floor.
The White Mustangs lost to Jonesboro MacArthur Monday night 39-20 to fall to 3-11 on the year.
The White Lady Mustangs fell to MacArthur 44-28 and are 3-12 for the year.
The White teams will tip at 5 p.m. when the eighth-grade girls take the floor.
Michael Boles, of Forrest City, will honored as the "Honorary Mustang All-Time Favorite Fan" during a special ceremony at the Jan. 30 Mustang basketball game at Mustang Arena.
Boles will be honored between the senior girls' and senior boys' game that night.
Forrest City willbe hosting Blytheville in a AAAAA-East Conference game.
Boles cxan always be found in the stands or on the sidelines of every Mustang athletic event.