By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
Fourth-ranked Little Rock Mills outscored Forrest City 23-to-8 in the fourth period Monday to post a convincing 82-53 win at Mustang Arena.
They did it with junior guard Bam Doyne and senior guard Chris Cobb on the bench.
That was the good news for the Mustangs, who suffered their 13th straight loss.
Doyne and Cobb played just three quarters each and went to the bench with the Comets leading 59-45 to start the final frame.
The 29-point loss was the worst for the Mustangs this season since a 31-point loss to Osceola in late November at the Rumble on the Ridge.
Gabriel Moore led the Comets, 20-3 overall and 9-1 in the AAAAA-East, with 22 points while Cobb finished with 15. Doyne added 13 and Duran Baker chipped in 10.
Kerry Evans paced the Mustangs, 2-18 and 0-10, with 15 points while sophomore Lorenzo Spearman had 12 and Vince Millen added 10.
The Mustangs stayed close for a quarter, trailing by just 21-19 to end the first period, but fell behind 40-33 at the half.
The Comets used an 8-0 run midway through the third period to push their lead to 48-36 and the rout was on.
The Mustangs travel to Jacksonville tonight to face the Red Devils, a team coming off a 54-51 upset victory Friday over West Memphis.
Forrest City 62, Mills 32
Trina Wynne scored 22 points and Deosha Agnew and Caronica Randle added 15 points each Monday to help the Lady Mustangs to a 62-32 win over Little Rock Mills.
The Lady Mustangs improve to 8-12 overall and 4-6 in the AAAAA-East with four games left to play.
The Lady Mustangs used a pair of big scoring runs -- one to start the game and the other to begin the second half -- to do most of the damage.
Forrest City led 8-0 before the Lady Comets got on the board and went on to lead 23-6 after one period and 35-10 at the half.
A 9-0 run to start the second half put the Lady Mustangs on top 44-10 on the way to a 58-17 lead to start the fourth period.
With the Forrest City starters on the bench, the Lady Mustangs led 61-21 before giving up 11 straight points to Mills in the final minutes of the game.
Jerri Comic led Mills with 11 points while Tiffany Womack and Kirshna Baker added seven points each.
Forrest City combined for a season-high 15 assists against Mills with Wynne handing out six and Agnew with four.
The victory keeps the Lady Mustangs in fifth place in the league standings behind West Memphis, Cabot, Jonesboro and tonight's opponent, Jacksonville.
Tonight's game will be played at the Devils' Den in Jacksonville.
The Lady Red Devils, 16-4 overall and 7-2 in the conference, defeated Forrest City 55-48 in the first meeting between the two teams played at Mustang Arena.
In other conference action tonight, Jonesboro plays at Blytheville, Cabot heads to Little Rock Mills and West Memphis travels to Sylvan Hills.
LONOKE The Hughes Junior Blue Devils had Lonoke's Junior Jackrabbits right where they wanted them but couldn't finish the deal, losing 46-38 in the championship game of the 6AAA Junior District Tournament Monday night.
Hughes rallied from a 30-20 third quarter deficit to take a 34-30 lead following baskets by Marcus Washington and Clifton Smith.
After a Lonoke timeout, the Junior Jackrabbits rallied to take a 35-34 lead on a three-point play by Jeremy Brown with 1:17 left.
Hughes' David Dowden hit a free throw to tie the game at 35-35 but Lonoke scored four straight points to regain a 39-35 lead with 39 seconds left in the game.
Lonoke sealed the championship by making seven of eight free throws during the final 31.5 seconds.
Dowden led Hughes with 17 points.
Brown led Lonoke with 15 points.
The senior high portion of the 6AAA district is sscheduled to begin tonight.
The Hughes Blue Devils play Wednesday at 5 p.m.
The Hughes Lady Blue Devils will play DeWitt tonight at 8 p.m., in a first-round game at the 6AAA District Tournament at Lonoke.
The Lady Blue Devils are seeded fifth in the district while DeWitt is the No. 4 seed.
DeWitt won both regular-season conference meetings.
Tonight's winner advances to play top-seeded Pine Bluff Dollarway on Thursday.
WEST MEMPHIS -- For the second consecutive year, all four of the Forrest City junior high teams were eliminated Monday in the first round of the AAAAA-East Conference basketball tournament being played at West Memphis.
Forrest City's White lady Mustangs held a 14-point second-half lead, but watched West Memphis West rally for an improbable 43-37 victory.
West advances to take on West Memphis East Wednesday at 4 p.m.
The White Lady Mustangs led West 34-20 with 24 seconds remaining in the third quarter but were victimized by foul trouble and an endless parade to the free-throw line by the host team.
West shot 48 free throws, making 27, while Forrest City was only 6 of 10 form the foul line.
West used a 23-1 spurt after Sequoria Grady's rebound basket late in the third quarter, which dashed any remaining Forrest City hopes of a victory.
Viveca Kimble and Grady each had 12 points each to pace Forrest City White while Shari Rogers added six points.
The White Lady Mustangs end the year at 9-11.
In other junior girls' games, the top-seeded West Memphis East girls defeated Forrest City's Blue Lady Mustangs 34-15 while Jonesboro Annie Camp defeated Blytheville 38-36 and Jonesboro MacArthur downed West Memphis Wonder 42-15.
Annie Camp and MacArthur will meet Wednesday at 7 p.m.
In junior high boys' action, West Memphis Wonder edged Forrest City Blue Mustangs 61-57 in overtime and Jonesboro MacArthur triumphed over the Forrest City White Mustangs 52-41.
Torrie Willis led the Blue Lady Mustangs with 10 points in the loss to West Memphis East. Aneisha Barden and Fareedah Washington chipped in with two each as the Blue girls end the year at 1-16.
The Forrest City Blue Mustangs nearly pulled one out against West Memphis Wonder.
Johnny Watson's short runner with 12 seconds left in regulation gave Forrest City a 51-49 lead.
But Wonder's Marcus Mangum was fouled on his way to the basket and hit two free throws with three seconds left to force overtime.
From there, it was all Wonder as Mangum hit five of his game-high 26 points.
Stephon Weaver led Forrest City Blue with 16 points while Rashad Williams added 13 and Terrance Ware scored 11 as the Blue ended the year at 6-11.
In Forrest City White's loss to MacArthur, Nick Grady canned three three-pointers on his way to a game-high 19 points, but his effort wasn't enough.
Taurus Moore added 16 points for Forrest City White (3-14) while Cameron Henderson put in six.
BARTON -- The Palestine-Wheatley Junior Lady Patriots will open play tonight at the 6AA District Tournament at Barton.
The Junior Lady Patriots, seeded second, will take on seventh-seeded Clarendon at 4:30 p.m.
In Monday action, Marvell's junior boys defeated Gillett 40-22 and will face the top-seeded P-W Junior Patriots Thursday, at 5:45 p.m.
Gillett's junior girls defeated Elaine 29-23 Monday and will meet top-seeded Altheimer Thursday at 4:30 p.m.
In senior high girls' action Monday, Marvell downed Clarendon 37-34 and advances to meet the No. 2 seeded P-W lady Patriots Wednesday at 7 p.m.
The P-W Patriots, seeded second, will take on Gillett Wednesday at 8:15 p.m.
Gillett defeated Clarendon 65-57 Monday.
* PREP BASKETBALL
Boys' AAAAA-East
Conf. O/all
Little Rock Mills 9-1 20-3
West Memphis 9-2 15-7
Blytheville 6-3 12-6
Jonesboro 5-4 9-12
Sylvan Hills 4-5 10-8
Jacksonville 4-5 7-12
Cabot 2-9 5-17
Forrest City 0-10 2-18
Girls' AAAAA-East
Conf. O/all
West Memphis 10-1 21-2
Jacksonville 7-2 16-4
Jonesboro 7-2 18-4
Cabot 6-5 13-11
Forrest City 4-6 8-12
Sylvan Hills 3-6 10-7
Blytheville 2-7 10-11
Little Rock Mills 0-10 0-0
Monday's Scores
Senior Boys
LR Mills 82, Forrest City 53
Senior Girls
Forrest City 62, LR Mills 32
Tuesday' February 12
Forrest City at Jacksonville
Jonesboro at Blytheville
Cabot at LR Mills
West Memphis at Sylvan Hills
6AAA Junior District Tournament
Junior Boys' Championship
Lonoke 46, Hughes 38
6AA District Tournament at Barton
Junior Girls
Gillett 29, Elaine 23
Tuesday, February 12
Palestine-Wheatley vs Clarendon, 4:30 p.m.
Junior Boys
Marvell 40, Gillett 22
Tuesday, February 12
Altheimer vs Clarendon, 5:45 p.m.
Senior Girls
Marvell 37, Clarendon 34
Tuesday, February 12
Gillett vs Elaine, 7 p.m.
Senior Boys
Gillett 65, Clarendon 57
Tuesday, February 12
Elaine vs Barton, 8:15 p.m.
Junior High School
AAAAA-East District Tournament
Monday's Scores-Junior Girls
WMemphis West 43 FCity White 37
WMemphis East 34, FCity Blue 15
JBoro Annie Camp 38, Blytheville 36
JB MacArthur 42, WMemphis Wonder 15
Wednesday, February 13
WMemphis East vs WMemphis West, 4 p.m.
Annie Camp vs MacArthur, 7 p.m.
Monday's Scores-Junior Boys
WMemphis West vs WMemphis East
JB MacArthur 52, FCity White 41
WMemphis Wonder 61, FCity Blue 57
Blytheville 43, JB Annie Camp 27
Wednesday, February 13
MacArthur vs WMWest or WM East, 5:30 p.m.
WMemphis Wonder vs Blytheville, 8:30 p.m.