By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
Last season, the Forrest City Mustangs did not lose a AAAAA-East Conference game on their home floor.
That's a streak fifth-year Mustang Coach Dwight Lofton would like to continue as Forrest City opens its 2000-2001 conference season tonight.
"Winning at home is a must if you're playing for the title and that streak proved invaluable for us," Lofton said.
The Mustangs went on to finish second a year ago (16-10, 9-5) behind West Memphis. The Mustangs lost to Little Rock central in the first round of the Class AAAAA State Tournament.
They will have to wait one more week to play a home game, however,
Tonight's conference game is a road trip at Sylvan Hills. Next Tuesday, they will travel to Blytheville.
A year ago, the Mustangs mauled Sylvan Hills 91-45 in the opener but forfeited the win after the Arkansas Activities Association ruled three players were ineligible for that game.
Lofton's Mustangs would like a repeat win.
"We're 3-6 going in but I think it is a very deceiving 3-6," Lofton said. "In maybe all but one of those six losses, we had a legitimate chance to win the game in the fourth period."
Sylvan Hills is 4-7 headed into tonight's game.
The Mustangs played well early, reaching the finals of the Rumble on the Ridge tournament, only to lose their next five before rebounding against West Helena on Dec. 22.
The team has been idle for 13 days.
So, now it's conference time. I thought we lost our enthusiasm after the Rumble, Lofton said. "But now we're ready to roll and we need to get back to playing and having fun."
Fans can expect very few changes in the Mustangs' personnel.
Lofton says the starting five will probably remain the same.
"We may bring in Kwantin King off the bench," Lofton said. "He has been prone to getting in foul trouble early and really has not played a complete game yet."
The Mustangs used the lengthy holiday to get in some quality practice time.
"The boys' side of the conference, I think, is up for grabs," Lofton said. "There is no favorite. It's wide open. We have just as good a chance to win the league title as the other seven teams. We are anxious to get back in the flow."
Thursday night, Little Rock Mills defeated Jacksonville by 20 points in the East's first official game of the season.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
Blytheville West shook off a lackluster first half by outscoring the Forrest City White Mustangs 11-to-5 in the third period to take a 33-31 win Thursday night in junior high action at the Barn.
The White Mustangs (3-8) led 16-12 at the half, but couldn't hold on to the lead.
Blytheville forced three ties early in the third period before taking a 23-21 lead with less than a minute to play.
That's the way the fourth period started.
Forrest City tied the game at 25-all, but Blytheville used consecutive backdoor plays, resulting in easy layups to move in front 29-25 with 3:59 to play.
Blytheville West led 30-25 before Forrest City trimmed the lead to 32-28 with a minute to play.
A last-second three-pointer by Milton Joyner provided the final score.
Lorenzo Spearman, who had 12 first half points for Forrest City, was held to just two points in the second half and finished with 14 points. Goldie Hicks and Joyner each finished with six while Maurice Lowe added four points.
Blytheville was led by Andrel Anderson's 10 points and James Williams' seven points.
West Memphis East 55, FC Blue Mustangs 43
The West Memphis East Red Imps played well for two quarters, but it was all they would need as they downed the visiting Forrest City Blue Mustangs, 55-43 Thursday night at West Memphis.
The four-week layoff didn't appear to have any effect on the Red Imps in the first quarter as they used their pressure defense to open with an 18-1 run and not allowing Forrest City's first field goal until the 1:15 mark.
East would go on to take a 21-6 lead into the second quarter.
Forrest City went to their pressure defense in the second quarter and that pressure, combined with cold shooting by East, allowed the Blue Mustangs to get back in the game, outscoring East 15-6 in the quarter to cut the lead to 27-21 at the half.
East hit their stride in the third period.
The Red Imps scored the first 18 points of the quarter to take a commanding lead and headed into the final frame with a 51-25 advantage.
East's lead would stay above 20 points for most of the fourth until Forrest City made a run late to make the final 55-43.
Terrence Wilson led East (7-3 overall)) with 13 points followed by Reginald Fulton with 12, Vic Brown had 10 and Vester Gilliam added six.
Terrance Ware led Forrest City (2-9) with 12 points followed by seven points from John Foreman.
Forrest City hosts Jonesboro Annie Camp Monday, Jan. 8, at the Barn.
All junior high games have been returned to the Barn.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
Tonight, Forrest City Lady Mustang Coach Sue Jayroe begins her first trip through the AAAAA-East.
Jayroe, in her first year as head coach of the Lady Mustangs, is ready for the challenge, but wishes her conference opener would have come a little sooner than tonight.
"If we could have started conference play shortly after we began our regular season, I could say I would be feeling real good about this," Jayroe said. "We were in top condition, our attitudes were great and then the bottom dropped out."
The scheduling and the weather killed the team.
The Lady Mustangs (4-3) began December with several players battling the flu. Then there was a long layoff between games after the Lady Mustangs finished an appearance in the Cabot Tournament -- from Dec. 2 until Dec. 22, the Lady Mustangs did not play.
Last week, during the Christmas break, the girls had some good practices.
"I think the girls are excited and ready to get back into the swing of things," Jayroe said. "They have looked at the early polls and they know we are sitting fourth in the nonconference standings. That's exactly where I want to be and that's where I want to finish, if not better."
Now, it comes down to how much the Lady Mustangs want it.
"We just need to keep our attitudes up and we have to get some games under our belts," jayroe said. "That is the only way to get back into shape."
The Lady Mustangs have not defeated Sylvan Hills since the 1996-97 season, suffering six consecutive losses to the Lady Bears.
The Sylvan Hills girls are 3-3 headed into tonight's opener.
Deosha Agnew is the Lady Mustangs' leading scorer, averaging just over 13 points per game. She has 14 steals but also leads the team in turnovers with 20. Leslie Jayroe is the team's leading rebounder with 44 total for the year and has nine blocked shots.
Kanetra Pendleton leads the team in assists with 18. She is also the team's best shooter from the foul line, hitting 12-of-22 attempts for a 54 percent average.
As a team the Lady Mustangs are averaging 48.4 points per game.
They are coming off a 45-43 loss to West Helena on Dec. 22.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
The Forrest City White Lady Mustangs outscored the Blytheville West junior girls 23-to-6 in the second half and went on to win their second game of the year, 32-20 Thursday night at the Barn.
Shari Rogers led the way with 10 points while Sequoria Grady added eight points. Crystal Summage had six and Viveca Kimble had four.
Blytheville ran to a 7-2 lead after one period and pushed the advantage to 12-2 in the second frame before Forrest City battled back to trail 14-9 at the half on a buzzer shot.
It was all Forrest City in the second half.
Summage forced a steal to start the third period and Grady converted the layup. A second steal by Summage led to another layup as Forrest City trailed 15-13.
The White Lady Mustangs took their first lead of the game with 27 seconds to play in the third third when Rogers made a steal and got the layup. Rogers fast-break layup basket with an assist from Summage put Forrest City in front 19-18 to start the final period.
Blytheville tied the game at 19-19 early in the fourth before Grady hit back-to-back baskets for a 24-19 lead.
Kimble's layup made it 28-20 with 1:10 to play and Summage added two free throws and Rogers got the final layup to complete the scoring.
West Memphis East 50, FC Blue Lady Mustangs 27
The West Memphis East Lady Red Imps remained undefeated at 10-0, Thursday night with a decisive 50-27 win over Forrest City's Blue Lady Mustangs.
East's pressure caused several turnovers that turned into easy points, especially for Jessica Johnson, who found holes all night in Forrest City's defense, allowing her to score a career-high 33 points to lead to the Lady Red Imps to the win.
East held a 14-2 lead at the end of the first quarter with Johnson scoring 12 of that total.
The Lady Red Imps hit their only lull in the game in the second quarter as they went cold from the field scoring only six points with the first bucket not coming until the 1:11 mark.
Forrest City (6-6) couldn't make up any ground however as they too scored just six points to trail 20-8 at the half.
East would end all hope for the Blue Lady Mustangs in the third period when they opened the quarter using a 10-0 run en route to a 38-16 advantage heading into the final quarter, where they would go on to win by 23.
Neicole Whitmoor, Ebonye Beck and LaTonya Dotson added four points each for East.
Katrina Wynne led Forrest City with nine points while Gabrielle Agnew added seven. Jessica Atkins scored six and Torrie Willis chipped in with five points.
Forrest City will host Jonesboro Annie Camp Monday, Jan. 8, in a three-game set at the Barn.