By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
Oh, the comforts of home, sweet home.
Palestine-Wheatley begins a four-game home stand tonight when they host Elaine for a 6AA Conference matchup at Patriot Gym.
Friday, it's homecoming when the Patriots host DeValls Bluff in a nonconference matchup and next week, Gillett and Marvell come to P-W.
Also tonight, Hughes will host Pine Bluff Dollarway. Forrest City has an open date tonight and will return to AAAAA-East Conference play on Friday when they host West Memphis.
The Lady Patriots are 4-1 in the conference, their only loss coming against Barton a week ago.
The Barton girls lead the league at 5-0.
The P-W Patriots are 3-2 in the league, but are coming off a 70-53 loss to Altheimer.
"I think we are where we need to be at this point in the season," said Terry Clardy.
"We are still very much in the conference race. The next three league games are at our place and I feel good about our chances."
The Lady Patriots are coming off a win against Altheimer, but are still looking to improve their guard play, especially at the point.
"We have some girls who are getting better, but we have to find someone who can step in and be the point guard before the district tournament starts," said P-W Coach Beverly Bass."
The 6AA district begins Feb. 11 at Barton. The Class AA Region 6 tournament will once again be played at Harding Academy in Searcy.
The Hughes Blue Devils will try to get back on track tonight against Dollarway.
Hughes, ranked fifth in Class AAA, lost its first conference game of the year on Friday to Lonoke, 69-67 in overtime.
Dollarway remains unbeaten in the 6AAA.
Finally, the Forrest City Mustangs and Lady Mustangs have an open date tonight after the regular-scheduled conference game against LR Mills was pushed back to Feb. 21.
That gives both teams extra practice time to prepare for their home date against West Memphis Friday.
Both West Memphis teams are ranked ninth in the just released Associated Press high school polls.
Both Forrest City teams are coming off conference losses against Jonesboro last Friday.
The Mustangs are 0-3 in the East while the Lady Mustangs are 2-1 and in a second-place tie with West Memphis, Sylvan Hills and Jacksonville.
The West Memphis boys are tied for first in the East with Blytheville.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
Sequoria Grady hit the second of two free throws with .3 seconds left Monday night to lift the Forrest City White Lady Mustangs to a 45-44 win over visiting Blytheville.
Forrest City trailed 34-27 to start the fourth period, but battled back to get within 43-41 with 1:08 to play.
Grady hit one of two free throws to get within one at 43-42 before Blytheville regained a 44-42 cushion. With less than 20 seconds left, Grady hit another free throw to make it 44-43 before Shari Rogers tied the game at 44-all by hitting the first of two free throws. Viveca Kimble rebounded but missed underneath. Grady was there for the rebound and drew he foul. Missing the first free throw, Grady hit the second for the win.
Forrest City improves to 9-5 overall and 5-4 in the AAAAA-East.
Kimble led the junior girls with 15 points while Grady added 11 and Rogers and Nicole Parker finished with eight points each.
Blytheville led 12-11 after one period but Forrest City rallied for a 24-19 halftime lead. Blytheville used a 15-to-3 third period to regain the edge before Forrest City outscored Blytheville 18-to-10 in the final frame.
*The Junior White Mustangs let another one get away Monday to remain winless for the season.
After forcing a 40-40 tie with 3:16 to play in the game, Forrest City scored just five points over the final three minutes in a 52-45 loss to Blytheville.
Forrest City led 36-35 to start the final period. They were only down one 46-45 with 1:20 to play after a three-pointer by Taurus Moore.
Forrest City (0-11 overall) trailed 20-12 after one period and 30-22 at the half. Nick Grady tied the game at 31-all midway through the third period and Ben Horton's three gave the White Mustangs a 34-33 lead.
Cameron Henderson led with 13 points while Horton had nine, all on three-pointers. Grady and Moore finished with seven points each.
WEST MEMPHIS -- The Forrest City Blue Junior Mustangs came out flat against West Memphis Wonder Monday night and suffered a 58-33 loss.
Wonder led 19-6 after one period and 35-18 at the half.
"We just stood around on offense and defense and did nothing," said Blue Coach Jimmie Williams. "We tried everything, but they were just flat."
The Blue Mustangs fall to 3-8 for the year and 2-7 in the AAAAA-East.
The Forrest City eighth-grade Mustangs lost 38-13.
Forrest City Coach Lewis Etheridge presented a check to Tonya Kemp and Mike Brawner recently in appreciation for the use of the Village Creek State Park facilities which served as the home field for Forrest City High School's first-ever boys' and girls' Mustang cross country teams. Etheridge served as head coach. The Mustangs held their home meets at Village Creek. Brawner is the park superintendent while Kemp is the park's administrative support coordinator. Village Creek will continue to serve as the location for the team's home meets during the fall schedule.
* PREP BASKETBALL
Boys' AAAAA-East
Conf. O/all
West Memphis 3-0 9-5
Blytheville 3-0 6-8
Sylvan Hills 2-1 8-4
LR Mills 2-1 13-3
Cabot 1-2 4-10
Jonesboro 1-2 5-10
Forrest City 0-3 2-11
Jacksonville 0-3 3-11
Girls' AAAAA-East
Conf. O/all
Jonesboro 3-0 14-2
Forrest City 2-1 6-7
Jacksonville 2-1 10-3
Sylvan Hills 2-1 9-2
West Memphis 2-1 13-2
Cabot 1-2 8-8
Blytheville 0-3 8-7
Little Rock Mills 0-3 0-0
Tuesday, January 15
AAAAA-East
West Memphis at Cabot
6AAA Conference
PB Dollarway at Hughes
DeWitt at Lonoke
England at Dumas
6AA Conference
Elaine at Palestine-Wheatley
Gillett at Altheimer
Marvell at Barton
Non-Conference
Clarendon at Cotton Plant
Junior High Boys
Monday's Scores
WMemphis Wonder 58, FCity Blue 33
Blytheville 52, FCity White 45
Junior High Girls
FCity White 45, Blytheville 44