By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
HAZEN -- Palestine-Wheatley lit up DeValls Bluff in the third period Tuesday night -- hitting six three-pointers to hand the Scrappers a 62-46 loss at the Hazen Invitational Tournament.
The Patriots move to 7-0 for the year and will play C.V. White in semifinal tournament action Thursday night at 5:30 p.m.
In Tuesday's other boys' game, Hazen advanced to the semifinal round by defeating McCrory 63-40. Hazen will play Carlisle Thursday at 8:30 p.m.
The two semifinal winners will play for the tournament title Saturday at 8:30 p.m. The two semifinal losers will play for third Saturday at 5:30 p.m.
Quinton Mason led Palestine-Wheatley with 18 points and DeVille Pickett added 15 while sophomore Curtis Allen came off the bench to finish with 10. Mason had four of the six three-pointers in the third period.
All total, the Patriot bench contributed 24 points in the victory.
"Everything seems to be falling into place for us," said P-W Coach Terry Clardy. "Everyone is playing hard and we are getting solid production from the bench as well."
Clardy has been rotating in as many as 12 players during each game so far.
"The senior leadership is beginning to show on the floor and that is helping to set the table for the younger guys," Clardy added.
The Patriots led by 30 with less than 10 minutes to play in the game.
Hughes 73, Marked Tree 51
Jermaine Davis scored 23 points and Malcolm Curne added a career-high 22 points Tuesday to lead the Hughes Blue Devils to a 73-51 win over Marked Tree in a 3AA-South senior boys' conference game played at Marked Tree.
The Blue Devils, after an 0-4 start, climb to 2-4 for the year and 1-0 in the league.
"We played much harder Tuesday than we have been playing," said second-year coach Brad Brannon. "We are still not doing all we need to do when it comes to our execution, but playing hard helps make up for our mistakes."
Davis finished with five, threes -- hitting four of that total in the first quarter. Johnny Washington and marcus Lay each added nine points. All of Lay's total came on three-pointers.
Hughes led 38-23 at the half.
Brad Jones led Marked Tree (1-2) with a game-high 24 points.
Hughes opened the year with a loss to Watson Chapel and then lost the first two games at the Jonesboro Hurricane Classic last weekend before taking down Greene County Tech in Saturday's seventh-place game to notch their first victory.
The Blue Devils will travel to Crawfordsville Friday night and will open play in the Northeast Arkansas Tournament on Dec. 19.
The Blue Devils won the Class AAA boys' division at last year's NEA but have since dropped down to Class AA.
The team will be seeded fourth in the A-AA division.
Blytheville 52, , Cape Girardeau 40
Daniel Smith scored 14 points to lead four Blytheville players in double figures as the Chickasaws clipped Cape Girardeau Central 52-40 in the first round of the Sikeston Invitational tournament Tuesday night.
John Fowler added 13, while Eddie Thomas and Doug Echols chipped in 10 each for Blytheville (3-2).
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
HAZEN -- Nikita Love hit the game-winning shot with two seconds left on the clock Tuesday night to lift the Palestine-Wheatley Lady Patriots to a 42-41 win over Des Arc at the Hazen Invitational Tournament.
The Lady Patriots will play Carlisle Thursday night in one of two semifinal senior girls' games. Carlisle defeated Clarendon 65-27 Monday night.
In Tuesday's other game, McCrory defeated DeValls Bluff 51-31 to advance to Thursday's semifinal game against Hazen.
The two semifinal winners will play for the tournament title Saturday at 7 p.m. while the two semifinal losers will play at 4 p.m. in the consolation game.
The Lady Patriots trailed by one with 6.6 seconds left in the game. Love took the inbounds pass and hit the shot on the final play of the game.
Love led the Lady Patriots with 12 points while Libby Martin added 10 points. LaRhonda Bender and Brittney Flenory each finished with six points while Beth Varvil and Quanza Reeder helped out by scoring four points each.
"We played hard and played a lot better than we have been playing," said first-year coach Lanny Allen.
Palestine-Wheatley led 20-19 at the half in a game that was back-and-forth from the opening tip.
Marked Tree 42, Hughes 33
Mo Bell scored a game-high 12 points to carry the Marked Tree Lady Indians past Hughes' Lady Blue Devils 42-33 in a 3AA-South senior girls' conference game Tuesday night at Marked Tree.
The Lady Blue Devils fall to 0-2 for the year and 0-1 in the league. Marked Tree improves to 3-3 for the season.
Hughes led until the fourth period.
"That's when we went to sleep," said first-year coach John Bateman. "Don't ask me why. The girls were playing well and then we just lost it."
The Lady Blue Devils led 11-6 after the first period and 20-13 at the half. They led 29-22 to start the fourth period.
Victoria Doolittle led Hughes with nine points while Valraneeka Brown had seven and Dekendra Smith added five points.
The Lady Blue Devils opened the season last week with a 23-21 loss to C.V. White.
*In junior high girls' action, Ticara Doolittle and Egypt Smith each scored eight points to lead the Hughes Junior Lady Blue Devils to a 39-16 win over Marked Tree Tuesday.
It was the first game of the season for Hughes.
Daisha Southern and Thoraisha Harper each added six points in the victory.
Cross County 67, Crawfordsville 35
Candace Halk led four Cross County players in double figures with 13 points to lead the Lady Thunderbirds to a 67-35 win over Crawfordsville in senior girls' basketball Tuesday night.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
In the final game before the Christmas break, the Forrest City Blue and White junior high basketball teams will face off Thursday night at Mustang Arena.
The Blue Mustangs are coming off a Monday loss, the team's first of the year, at West Memphis Wonder while the White Mustangs are coming a loss to Blytheville.
The three-game set begins at 5 p.m. with an eighth-grade game followed by the varsity girls and the varsity boys.
Both teams will return to action on Jan. 6.
* PREP BASKETBALL
Tuesday's Scores
College Women
Henderson State 81, Williams Baptist 57
Senior Boys
Biggers-Reyno 69, Williford 59
Crawfordsville 66, Cross County 38
Hoxie 57, Tuckerman 55
Jonesboro 72, Greene Co. Tech 50
Marmaduke 75, CRA 67, OT
Maynard 70, Walnut Ridge 69
River Valley 74, Evening Shade 57
Swifton 79, Newark 48
Turrell 41, Parkin 33, OT
Hughes 73, Marked Tree 51
Senior Girls
Biggers-Reyno 70, Williford 47
Cross County 67, Crawfordsville 35
Harrisburg 46, East Poinsett Co. 39
Marked Tree 42, Hughes 33
Newark 72, Swifton 66
Pocahontas 49, Highland 37
Sloan-Hendrix 45, Hoxie 42
Tuckerman 61, Augusta 54
Turrell 62, Parkin 16
Westside 53, Brookland 38
Junior Boys
Biggers-Reyno 44, Williford 10
CRA 47, Marmaduke 40
Maynard 50, Walnut Ridge 48
River Valley 50, Evening Shade 10
Junior Girls
Cross County 48, Crawfordsville 30
East Poinsett Co. 47, Harrisburg 27
Newark 35, Swifton 21
Pocahontas 46, Highland 32
Sloan-Hendrix 36, Hoxie 26
Westside 33, Brookland 22
Hughes 39, Marked Tree 16
TOURNAMENTS
Senior Boys
Tri-County at Lepanto
EPC 73, Paragould 49
Hazen Invitational at Hazen
Hazen 63, McCrory 40
Palestine-Wheatley 62, DeValls Bluff 46
Wednesday, December 11
Boys' Consolation
McCrory vs Clarendon, 8:30 p.m.
DeValls Bluff vs Des Arc, 5:30 p.m.
Thursday, December 12
Palestine-Wheatley vs CV White, 5:30 p.m.
Hazen vs Carlisle, 8:30 p.m.
Senior Girls
Hazen Invitational at Hazen
Tuesday's Scores
Palestine-Wheatley 42, Des Arc 41
Hazen 55, CV White 24
Wednesday, December 11
CV White vs DeValls Bluff, 7 p.m.
Des Arc vs Clarendon, 4 p.m.
Thursday, December 12
Hazen vs McCrory, 4 p.m.
Palestine-Wheatley vs Carlisle, 7 p.m.