By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
It was an inspired effort by the Forrest City Lady Mustangs Tuesday night at Mustang Arena.
Inspired by Head Coach Sue Jayroe's temper tantrum on Monday, the Lady Mustangs held off the Cabot Lady Panthers 61-58 to improve to 5-8 in the AAAAA-East and 9-14 overall. A season-ending win over Little Rock Mills on Thursday will give Forrest City a fifth-place finish in the league.
Following the Lady Mustangs' victory, the Forrest City Mustangs picked up their first AAAAA-East Conference win of the year by rolling up Cabot 69-42.
The Mustang win ended a 15-game slide. Forrest City's last win came on Dec. 7 -- a 49-47 win over Stuttgart at the Bryant Tournament.
"I'm not a very vocal coach on the sidelines and I'm probably not as aggressive as I probably need to be sometimes," Jayroe said. "But I threw a little fit in the locker room at practice Monday and I think my players got the message."
That message began to sink in at halftime Tuesday when the Lady Mustangs went to the dressing room trailing 26-21.
Taking the floor to start the third period, the Lady Mustangs scored the first eight points to take a 29-26 lead on four straight points from Caronica Randle.
At the three minute mark, the Lady Mustangs had completed a 14-to-2 run and led 35-28.
Trina Wynne made it a 10-point lead by turning a conventional three-point play and Erika Haggans banged home a running jumper for a 40-28 cushion.
Cabot's Brittney Goings, who finished with a game-high 30 points (including five, 3s) helped get the Lady Panthers back within 43-32 to start the final frame, even though Forrest City had outscored Cabot 22-to-6.
None of Forrest City's field goals in the third period were bigger than Katrina Floyd's off-balance jumper with two Cabot defenders in her face after a near disastrous turnover, that kept the Lady Mustangs in front 43-31.
The Lady Panthers refused to quit and continued to chip away at Forrest City's lead in the fourth.
Forrest City led by 14 points, 47-33 early before Goings hit four free throws and Stephanie Bradley scored six points to help start a 14-to-2 Cabot run that left the Lady Panthers down 49-47.
While Cabot was making the run, Forrest City missed too many point blank layups, was hit with a technical foul, lost Randle to foul trouble and made too many turnovers.
Still, with 3:30 to play, Forrest City led 53-49.
Cabot trailed by two, 58-56 with 32 seconds to play after a Goings' three.
Forrest City senior Deosha Agnew hit one free throw for a 59-56 lead with 22 seconds left before Cabot's Tara Sterenberg hit two free throws with 5.3 seconds to play to cut the Lady Mustang lead to 59-58.
Gabrielle Agnew calmed iced the win by drawing all net on two Forrest City free throws with 2.9 seconds left after being fouled by Bradley, who also missed a three-pointer at the buzzer.
Goings scored 11 of Cabot's first 12 points as the state playoff bound Lady Panthers led 16-10 after one period.
Goings had 16 of Cabot's 26 first half points.
Bradley finished with 14 points while Sterenberg and Allie Gammill added four points each.
Deosha Agnew, playing her final home game as a Lady Mustang, led Forrest City with 17 points while Wynne finished with 14 and Randle added 12. Floyd had eight and Haggans added six points.
The Lady Mustangs shot 41 percent from the floor (20-of-49) and 58 percent from the foul line. As a team, Forrest City had 11 assists and 14 steals.
In the boys game, Forrest City led 17-10 after one period and pushed that advantage to 33-14 at the half.
By the end of the third it was 53-25.
The game broke down into nothing more than "street ball" during the final three minutes of the game by both teams, with the Mustangs leading 64-35 with a minute to play.
It was just the third time this season the Mustangs have scored more than 60 points.
Vince Millen led the Mustangs with 22 points while Kerry Evans had 12. Nate Britt finished with nine while Vincent Hardaway and Anthony Bean each added seven points and Derrick Brown had six.
Josh Watkins and Harrison Brumley each had eight points for Cabot while Nick Roberts added six. Jeff Byrd finished with four.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
LITTLE ROCK -- The good news for Dover Head Coach Sandy Taylor was that his Pirates are making their first trip to the regional tournament since the 1999 season.
The bad news for Taylor is a first-round matchup against the defending Class AAA state champions, Hughes.
That happens today at 5:30 p.m., at Pulaski Academy in Little Rock as the Class AAA Region 3 Tournament gets underway.
Dover, the fourth seed from the 5AAA Conference, is 15-12 for the year. They lost to Pulaski Academy in the semifinal round of last week's district tournament.
Hughes, 21-8, defeated Lonoke Saturday in the finals of the 6AAA district and are the No. 1 seeded team into the regional.
The two teams have never met.
The Pirates are led by the one-two scoring punch of senior guard Chris Brewer and sophomore guard Willis Morris.
Hughes relies on seniors Robert Davis, Lonnie Smith and Chris Crawford as well as Antonio Cotton, Malcolm Curne, Johnny Washington, Jermaine Davis and recently called up freshman guard David Dowden.
The Blue Devils like to push the ball and play the transition game.
Dover, a team that is not very athletic, will have to play a half-court game to have a chance.
Today's winner, not only makes the state tournament cut, but will return on Friday to face either Pulaski Academy or Pine Bluff Dollarway in semifinal action.
The top four from the regional advance to the Class AAA state tournament which will be played at Beebe High School.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
SEARCY -- Palestine-Wheatley Lady Patriot Coach Beverly Bass is hoping for a victory today in first-round play at the Class AA Region 6 Tournament.
She's also hoping her players, several of whom have been suffering from the flu-like virus making its rounds in the area, are recovered enough to be factors.
Bass' Lady Patriots face DeValls Bluff today at 4 p.m., at Harding Academy in Searcy.
The two teams have met once this season with Palestine-Wheatley taking a 65-57 win on their home floor.
"I just need to get everyone healthy," Bass said. "This bug has been making the rounds and I have a couple of players who have had it."
The Lady Patriots earned the No. 1 seed into the regional last Saturday by defeating Barton 38-35 in the 6AA district final played at Barton.
Tonight's winner will return to play on Friday to face either Des Arc or Elaine.
First things first, however.
Even though the Lady Patriots own a season win over the Lady Scrappers, Bass says DeValls Bluff has improved.
"They are quick, kind of like Barton in our district," Bass said. "They have a couple of very quick guards and they will play a variety of defenses, mixing up man and zone. We have to play smart and we have to stay out of foul trouble."
Bass said her Lady Patriots are exactly where she wanted them to be headed into regionals.
"We are in the bracket opposite Harding Academy and that's what we wanted," Bass said. "We did not want to have to face them early on."
Harding, the No. 1 seed from the 2AA South district, will take on Altheimer today at 7 p.m.
P-W and Harding could meet in Saturday's final.
"I like our chances of getting to Saturday," Bass said. "If we can get past DeValls Bluff, I think we can play with Des Arc and we've already beaten Elaine three times this year. We are playing well. Some of the girls are beginning to step up their game to the next level, including Brittney Flenory, LaRhonda Bender and Libby Martin.
Jacksonville's Brandon Nelson got the ball after a steal by Dashawn Garry and with 3.1 seconds left hit a three-pointer from NBA range to give the Red Devils a 69-68 victory over Sylvan Hills in overtime Tuesday night.
The Red Devils rallied from a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit and gave Coach Jerry Wilson a victory over Sylvan Hills Coach Kevin Davis, Wilson's former assistant.
Sylvan Hills (11-10, 7-7) was playing on its second consecutive night after winning a make-up game Monday against Blytheville.
Jacksonville has to win out to make the playoff cut.
Nick Smith led Jacksonville with 27 points, Nelson had 15 and Garry 13. Jeremy Brown led Sylvan Hills with 27 points.
*Daniel Smith had 14 points as visiting Blytheville (2-12, 8-5 AAAAA-East) upset West Memphis (17-8, 11-3) 43-41.
*Kyle Gartman scored 21 points, helping Jonesboro (10-15, 6-7 AAAAA-East) upset visiting Little Rock Mills (22-4, 11-2) 61-60.
Matt Byrd added 13 points and Ervin Jones 11 for Jonesboro. Mills got 17 points from Bam Doyne and 12 from Gabriel Moore.