By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
When the Palestine-Wheatley Lady Patriots take the floor for their Nov. 6 home opener against Arkansas Baptist, it won't take long for fans to realize they won't be seeing this year what they have grown accustomed to seeing in the past.
With senior guard Nikki Bass the only returning starter from last year's 35-1 Class AA state champion team, the Lady Patriots will be just a shell of their former selves.
"No doubt about it, we are young and very inexperienced," said P-W Coach Beverly Bass. "We have improved since attending summer camps but we are going to have trouble scoring points this year. Instead of having five on the floor who can score at any time, we will have to get the ball into the right hands this year to put up points."
That may mean feeding the ball to Nikki for the most part.
Coming off an outstanding junior season, Nikki Bass is being counted on for her leadership and scoring abilities this season.
Behind Bass are some talented players who Beverly Bass says will have to step up and contribute.
Those players include LaRhonda Bender, Nikita Love, Libby Martin and Beth Varvil as well as some newcomers to the program, Tameka Leak, a senior who has never played before and Jenny Loewer, also playing organized basketball for the first time.
"We have a long way to go and a short time to get there," Bass said. "The girls have been working hard. We have 11 players and 11 good kids."
Bass says not to be surprised if this P-W team has as many as 10 losses by Christmas.
"We are playing a very tough nonconference schedule, but overall it will help us when we get into conference play and it will benefit us in February. During the early part of our schedule, we will use different combinations of players," Bass said. "One game, one combination, another game, another combination until we find something that works for us."
The senior Patriots are scheduled against Arkansas Baptist as well but that may be a junior varsity game, if the Patriot football team is still in the playoffs.
The Lady Patriots will participate again this year at the White County Tournament in Searcy and at the Paragould tournament.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
RUSTON -- The Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters and Bulldogs are scheduled to scrimmage Saturday morning at the Thomas Assembly Center prior to the Tech vs. Rice football game.
Leon Barmore's squad will start practice at 9:30 a.m. and will scrimmage from approximately 10:30 to 11 a.m.
Keith Richard's Bulldogs will follow, scrimmaging from 11:15 a.m. to noon.
Both teams open exhibition play Sunday, Nov. 4. The Lady Techsters host the Basketball Travelers while the Bulldogs host the Spirit Express.
Former Palestine-Wheatley standout Erica Smith will play for Barmore's Lady Techsters this season.
Both scrimmages are free and open to the public.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
The backs of the Forrest City Mustangs are against the wall.
If the Mustangs' plans include extending their season beyond the final Nov. 2 playing date, the team has to defeat Sylvan Hills tomorrow night and West Memphis next week.
Winning one out of the two won't be enough.
Both games will be played at Sam Smith Stadium.
To get the two wins, the Mustangs will have to play hard, something the team has not done in their last four games during which they have gone 1-3 after starting the year with a 3-1 run.
The Mustangs have scored just 19 points in the last four games -- six against Mills in a 14-6 loss and 13 against a winless Blytheville team in a 13-3 win. They were shut out by Cabot 35-0 and Jacksonville 28-0.
"Since the Osceola game, we have gotten progressively worse, when we should have been showing improvement," said Mustang Coach Donnie Willis.
Granted the Mustangs lost four starters from last year's offensive line as well as losing a two-year starter at fullback, when Howard Collins transferred to Wynne.
"We've struggled offensively, that's for sure," Willis said. "We have players who are not making the right reads and not running the plays the way we have drawn them up and we have players on offense, playing hurt. The effort against Jacksonville was not there and before I let them play like that again, we will let the sophomores play. This team still has a shot at a winning season and making the playoffs. The players have to make up their minds they are going to play and play hard. There is no excuse for not playing hard. When you look at the game film and 10 of your 11 players on the field are just jogging during the play, that's not acceptable."
Willis said that he is not going to give up nor is going to lay down.
"This bunch has enough talent to win," Willis said. "and the attitudes have been good."
The Mustangs enter Friday's game in a four-way tie for fourth place in the AAAAA-East.
Cabot is holding down first while Jacksonville is sitting in second and a surprising LR Mills team jumped into third.
Forrest City is trying to reach the playoffs for the second straight year.
Over in the 6AAA, the Hughes Blue Devils will be playing for second place Friday night when they host Brinkley.
Both teams are tied for second and the winner of this game will likely lock up the second seed into the Class AAA playoffs and home field for the first round.
Hughes, which has already locked up a postseason berth, struggled to slip past DeWitt 28-27 at home last week. Hughes ends the year against Dumas on Nov. 2.
Brinkley defeated Lonoke 28-6 last week which forces Lonoke into a must-win Friday against Dumas to stay in the playoff hunt. Lonoke closes the season against league-leading Pine Bluff Dollarway.
Over in the 3AA, the Palestine-Wheatley Patriots have already secured a playoff spot and will face Parkin, 1-7 overall, Friday in a road trip.
The Patriots are tied for second with Salem. Salem faces winless Cross County Friday.
Should P-W and Salem both earn victories this week, that will make the season finale between the two teams the battle for the No. 2 seed into the playoffs and first-round home field.