By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
It's homecoming tonight at Mustang Arena.
Having ended a five-game conference slide last Friday night at Sylvan Hills, the Lady Mustangs are still in position to grab one of the four state tournament playoff berths in the AAAAA-East.
The Lady Mustangs are 3-5 in the East in fifth place with six games to play.
Forrest City needs to win four of those six to have a realistic shot at attaining the fourth spot in the conference and a trip to Fort Smith for the Class AAAAA state tournament later this month.
Tonight appears to be a good place to begin as the Forrest City girls host Jonesboro.
The Lady Hurricane have lost some of their strength as well as their last two games and find themselves lounging in third place in the East standings behind West Memphis and Jacksonville.
The Lady Mustangs played Jonesboro very close in the first meeting, before finally losing 60-52.
As for the Forrest City Mustangs, still in search of their first conference win, Coach Dwight Lofton said he had "a good feeling" about tonight's game against Jonesboro.
"It is a good opportunity for the kids to break out for a win," Lofton said. "It's homecoming and it's Jonesboro and we had some good practice time and I feel good about our chances tonight."
Jonesboro has dropped two of their last three games.
In the first meeting, Jonesboro won by 14 points.
The Hughes Blue Devils are basically in a must-win situation tonight at Pine Bluff Dollarway.
A victory over the Cardinals won't get them the 6AAA Conference title, but it will assure them of second place and the No. 2 seed into next week's district tournament.
The Blue Devils, 8-3 in the league, fell out of the race for the outright conference title Tuesday night when they lost at home to Lonoke on a buzzer shot.
Hughes has dropped three of its last four conference games -- two of those losses against Lonoke -- by a total of 11 points.
"It doesn't matter what we are playing for tonight," said Hughes' Brad Brannen, "Tonight's game at Dollarway is a must-win for us. We have to get the job done."
Despite being out of school Wednesday and Thursday due to the snowfall, Brannen said he was able to get in some practice time each day.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
ELAINE -- The Palestine-Wheatley Lady Patriots closed out the regular season Thursday night with a 58-26 win over Elaine in 6AA Conference play.
It is the ninth consecutive victory for the Lady Patriots since losing to Barton in early January and gives Palestine-Wheatley a 15-10 overall mark and an 11-1 mark in the league.
The Lady Patriots will be the No. 2 seed into the 6AA District Tournament, which will begin Monday at Barton.
The P-W Junior Lady Patriots and the P-W senior Patriots closed out the regular season Thursday with victories at Elaine as well.
Nikita Love led P-W with 16 points and eight rebounds. while Brittney Flenory, Nikki Bass and LaRhonda Bender each finished with 10 points.
Flenory recorded a "double-double" by grabbing 12 rebounds, despite collecting four personal fouls in the first half.
"Brittney does the little things in a ball game to help you win," said P-W Coach Beverly Bass. "Over the past few games, she has been the most consistent on the floor for us. She just needs to do a better job at staying out of foul trouble."
Bass had eight assists in the game and made 12 steals.
Beth Varvil had four points, four rebounds and one blocked shot while Libby Martin finished with four points and Jenny Loewer added two points.
The Palestine-Wheatley Junior Lady Patriots secured the No. 2 seed into the upcoming junior high district tournament Thursday by defeating Elaine 50-34.
Fallon Parker led with 16 points while Bernice Sparkman had 13, Tanisha Wynne 10, Wendy Smith six and Lauren Dover five points.
The Junior Lady Patriots will open district play Tuesday when they take on Clarendon at 4:30 p.m.
In the junior boys' bracket, the Junior Patriots got the No. 1 seed and the bye into the finals.
At press time, there was no word on the senior girls' and senior boys' scheduled district tournament games.
LONOKE -- Saturday's semifinal games at the 6AAA Junior High District Tournament in Lonoke are set.
In junior girls' action Thursday night, Pine Bluff Dollarway eliminated defending champion Hughes 34-22 to advance to Saturday's semifinal against Lonoke.
Marley Lemons had 13 points for Hughes.
That game is set for 7 p.m.
In the bottom half of the girls' bracket, Dumas advanced to the semifinal round by turning back DeWitt 41-21 Thursday night.
Dumas will take on England Saturday at 4:30 p.m.
In the lone junior high boys' game played Thursday, Dumas defeated DeWitt 54-36 and will advance to play Lonoke in Saturday's semifinal game at 8:15 p.m.
The Hughes Junior Blue Devils, 55-43 winners over Brinkley on Monday, will take on Pine Bluff Dollarway in the other boys' semifinal, Saturday at 5:45 p.m.
The tournament finals will be played Monday.
The Forrest City Recreation Department is looking for players.
The registration process for the 2002 Forrest City youth baseball, softball and adult men's and women's softball leagues continues at City Hall.
The youth sign-ups will run through March 4 while the adult league registration will remain open through April 1.
Youth baseball and softball fees are $15 for youths living inside the city limits and $25 for those living outside the city limits.
The adult league softball fees are $350 per team plus $10 for each player living outside Forrest City.
The pregram is trying to form a 40-and-over softball league for the first time this year.
The league, for men and women, will play a separate schedule than the original adult league and the fees are the same as for the adult teams.
Other changes this season include the raising of all the outfield fences on the softball side of the Sports Complex to eight feet and the addition of a fast-pitch softball machine and batting cages.
For more information, call Kenneth Taylor at the Parks and Recreation Department, 633-3667.
* PREP BASKETBALL
Junior High School
AAAAA-East District Tournament
Monday, February 11
Junior Girls at WM High School
WMemphis West vs FCity White, 4 p.m.
WMemphis East vs FCity Blue, 7 p.m.
Junior Girls at West Memphis West
JBoro Annie Camp vs Blytheville, 4 p.m.
JB MacArthur vs WMemphis Wonder, 7 p.m.
Junior Boys at WM High School
WMemphis West vs WMemphis East, 5:30 p.m.
JB MacArthur vs FCity White, 8:30 p.m.
Junior Boys at West Memphis West
WMemphis Wonder vs FCity Blue, 5:30 p.m.
Blytheville vs JB Annie Camp, 8:30 p.m.