By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
Suddenly, the Forrest City White Junior Mustangs are one of the hottest teams in the AAAAA-East.
The White Mustangs began the season by losing their first 12 games.
Thursday night, the team won its third straight conference game, putting down West Memphis Wonder 31-29 at Mustang Arena.
Forrest City Coach Sonny Shields simply called the effort "a big win."
It was, needless to say, considering that Monday, Wonder, 10-7 overall, knocked off previously undefeated Jonesboro MacArthur.
The White Mustangs and MacArthur meet in the regular season-ending game Monday at Mustang Arena.
"We came out and played solid defense and did not let down at the end," Shields said, "which has been our weak point all year. We missed a lot of easy point blank layups but we held on to the lead late in the game."
Cameron Henderson was the only White Mustang player in double figures, finishing with 10. Taurus Moore, the team's "floor general" added seven points while Nick Grady finished with six. Ben Horton added four points.
Forrest City improves to 3-12 for the year and 3-10 in the league.
"The kids are finally playing together as a team," Shields said. "They have learned that defense creates offense and to play hard for four full quarters."
*At Blytheville, the Junior Chickasaws downed Forrest City Blue 56-36 in conference play.
Forrest City Blue suffered a let down in the third period, scoring only two points, and lost their lead and never recovered as Blytheville pulled away for the victory.
The Blue Mustangs led 15-5 after the first period and 23-19 at the half.
As the Blue Mustangs went cold in the third, Blytheville heated up, scoring 23 points to take a 42-25 lead into the fourth period.
Sherman Allen led Forrest City with 10 points while Michael Alston had nine and Stephon Weaver was held to six points.
John Fowler led Blytheville with 23 points while Roosevelt Jackson and Brice Beck had nine points each.
Forrest City slips to 5-10 overall and 4-9 in the conference with one game left to play Monday at Jonesboro Annie Camp.
*The Blytheville junior girls defeated the Forrest City Junior Blue girls 51-24 Thursday night while West Memphis Wonder took a one-point victory over the Forrest City White Junior Lady Mustangs.
The Forrest City White Lady Mustangs slip to 9-9 overall for the year and 5-8 in the conference.
The Blue Lady Mustangs fall to 1-14 and 1-12 in the league.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
As it should be, the battle for the 6AA Conference title, comes down to one game between clearly, the best two teams in the league over the past three years.
Palestine-Wheatley's Lady Patriots and Barton's Lady Bears.
There is one small twist this year as the two teams meet for the second time. This time around, Barton holds the upper hand going in.
Barton, 9-0 for the year, can wrap up their first conference championship tonight on their home floor with a win over the Lady Patriots.
Last month, Barton handed the Lady Patriots the team's first and only 6AA Conference loss since P-W joined the league to start the 1998-99 season, winning 48-37 for an 11-point margin.
The Barton win ended a string of 37-consecutive conference victories by the Lady Patriots, who have dominated the 6AA by winning three straight conference titles.
The win was also the first-ever victory for a Barton team over the P-W senior girls.
Beverly Bass knows exactly what her Lady Patriots have to do tonight at Barton if they are to win their fourth consecutive 6AA Conference title.
Win the game by more than 11 points.
The Lady Patriots are 8-1 in the conference and have to put away Barton by more than 11 points to win the outright conference title for the fourth straight time.
Winning by 11 or less will put the Lady Patriots at the mercy of a coin toss to decide the champion.
"I've never had much luck with coin tosses," Bass said. "So, what we want to do is go down there tonight and take the win, by more than 11 points and take care of business."
Barton and P-W each have two more games remaining after tonight's head-to-head meeting and each team should win out.
Barton has Gillett and Marvell left to play while P-W has Altheimer and Elaine.
"We have improved tremendously since the Christmas break," Bass said. "I know it will be a war tonight but we're not going to back down. Barton has a good team, but we think we have a good team too.
The three-game set tips at 5 p.m., when the Junior Lady Patriots take the floor.
Thursday night, the Junior Patriots used a last-second shot to snap a 41-41 tie to clip DeValls Bluff 43-41.
P-W trailed 22-8 at the half.
Fred Leak led all scorers with 20 points.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
The Forrest City Mustangs and Lady Mustangs will resume AAAAA-East Conference play tonight at Sylvan Hills.
The Mustangs are coming off their seventh straight conference loss, a 63-48 decision against Blytheville Tuesday.
In the first meeting against Sylvan Hills, the Bears rolled up the Mustangs 67-58 at Mustang Arena.
The Bears have won just twice in conference play since defeating the Mustangs.
In senior girls' play, the Lady Mustangs will try to make it a season sweep over the Lady Bears tonight.
Forrest City won the first meeting 69-49, but have dropped five of their last six.
The Lady Bears have lost their last three conference games.
Tonight's two-game set begins at 6 p.m., when the girls take the floor.
The boys will follow at approximately 7:30 p.m. at Bear Country Gym.
* PREP BASKETBALL
HIGH SCHOOL
Friday, February 1
AAAAA-Central
LR Catholic at LR Hall
LR McClellan at Mountain Home
NLR at Cownay
AAAAA-East
Cabot at Jonesboro
Forrest City at Sylvan Hills
Jacksonville at Blytheville
West Memphis at LR Mills
AAAAA-South
Lake Hamilton at Bryant
Pine Bluff at Camden Fairview
Sheridan at Benton
Texarkana at El Dorado
AAAAA-West
Bentonville at FS Northside
Rogers at FS Southside
Russellville at Springdale
Van Buren at Fayetteville
AAAA-East
Batesville at Greene County Tech
Nettleton at Marion
Newport at Paragould
Wynne at Osceola
AAAA-Southeast
Marianna at Watson Chapel
Monticello at Stuttgart
North Pulaski at Crossett
White Hall at Helena-West Helena
AAAA-Southwest
Hope at LR Fair
HS Lakeside at Arkadelphia
Magnolia at Hot Springs
Pulaski Robinson at Malvern
3AAA-South
East Poinsett County at Valley View
Rivercrest at Manila
Trumann at Harrisburg
6AAA
Brinkley at Lonoke
England at Hughes
DeWitt at Dumas
2AA-South
Augusta at Des Arc
Carlisle at McCrory
DeValls Bluff at Harding Academy
3AA-North boys
Rector at Bay
Riverside at Marmaduke
3AA-South
Earle at Turrell
Marked Tree at Crawfordsville