By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
PARAGOULD -- The Poplar Bluff, Mo. Lady Mules showed some holiday spirit Thursday by having a little mercy on the Forrest City Lady Mustangs at the 10th annual McDonald's Shootout at Paragould High School.
With 4:22 left in the game, the Lady Mules ran their lead to 30 which invoked the "mercy rule" and the continous clock for the ramainder of the game.
Probably a good thing. Poplar Bluff went on to take a 69-34 win and without the mercy rule in effect, the margin of victory may have been greater.
Poplar Bluff (5-0) will play Greene County Tech today in the semifinals of the girls' tournament.
The Lady Mustangs (2-5) will play CAC at 4 p.m.
For Forrest City, it came down to not doing the "little" things on the floor it takes to win ball games.
"The girls know how to rebound and block out," Lady Mustang Coach Sue Jayroe said. "They chose not to. Until they do, the losses will continue to pile up."
The Lady Mules out-rebounded Forrest City 4-to-1, controlling both the offensive and defensive boards.
Forrest City had just two offensive rebounds in the game.
The Lady Mustangs started fast, taking a 5-1 lead early and hung with the bigger and stronger Lady Mules the entire first half, trailing just 18-12 after one period and only 26-18 at the half.
The second half had a much different storyline as Poplar Bluff outscored the Lady Mustnags 20-to-7 in the third period to lead 47-25 to begin the final frame.
With 4:22 to play, Poplar Bluff's Jenny Hillis caned a short bank shot off the glass for a 59-29 lead which brought the mercy rule into play.
Forrest City managed just five points over the final four minutes.
Frances Kalich, Poplar Bluff's 6-1 senior center, led all scorers with 28 points -- 14 of that total coming in the second half. Junior guard Tierra Johnson added 21 points and Hillis finished with 10.
Forrrest City was led by Trina Wynne's eight points while Sequoria Grady and Viveca Kimble had seven points each. Nicole Parker added six and Lashundra Rogers added four.
*The uptempo Jonesboro Lady Hurricane dealt the Paragould Lady Rams a tough loss Thursday night in the opening round of the McDonald's Shootout at the PHS gym.
The Lady Hurricane used a stifling defense and a run-and-gun style of offense to beat Paragould 54-43.
*In the nightcap, Pocahontas upset previously-unbeaten Valley View 37-34.
Jonesboro led 18-16 lead at the end of the first quarter and held a slight 30-26 edge at halftime.
Jonesboro ended the third with a 40-31 lead and used the inside play of Rachel Allison, who led all scorers with 19 points, in the fourth period to put the game away.
The loss dropped Paragould to 4-3 on the year. They will play Valley View at 5:30 tonight.
Christina Walls had 13 points and was the Lady Rams' Jim Bryant MVP of the game. Jackie Gilbert had 11 for Jonesboro.
*Deedee Barre hit 6-for-6 from the free throw line in the final minute, on her way to a game-high 16 points, to help the Pocahontas Lady Redskins' to a 37-34 victory over the Valley View Lady Blazers.
Pocahontas used a solid defense and superior post play to beat the Lady Blazers 37-34 in the first round of the McDonald's Shootout.
Lauren Wise led Pocahontas with14 points.
Jill Shrable had 10 for Valley View and Chasni Lands had 9 points.
Pocahontas plays Jonesboro tonight at 8:30 in the second round while Valley View will battle Paragould tonight in the consolation bracket at 5:30.
*The Greene County Tech Lady Eagles outgunned the Central Arkansas Christian Lady Mustangs in the first round of the McDonald's Shootout Thursday at Paragould High School, winning 57-46.
Tech (7-0) built a solid 39-20 halftime lead.
CAC's Allyson McDougal and Amanda Morris finished with 10 points each.
Brooke Eason and Lindsey Newberry came off the bench to lead GCTech with nine points each.
The Lady Eagles' win sets up a rematch with last year's eventual tournament runners-up, the Poplar Bluff Lady Mules.
The Lady Mules defeated GCT 58-32 in the 2002 Shootout.
The CAC Lady Mustangs (6-3) will take on Forrest City (2-5) in the 4 p.m. opener today.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
The Palestine-Wheatley Lady Patriots won for the first time in six tries Thursday night.
The victory could not have come at a better time.
Riding 20 points from Tonisha Wynne, the Lady Patriots rallied to defeat McCrory 55-48 at the Thunderbird Invitational tournament at Cross County High School.
The win puts the Lady Patriots into the tournament's championship game Saturday against Cross County. The title game tips at 6:30 p.m.
McCrory falls into the consolation bracket and will play Parkin at 4 p.m. for third place.
McCrory led 17-14 after one period and 23-21 at the half.
P-W rallied to outscore the Lady Jaguars 14-7 in the third to take the lead.
P-W's Whitney Smith broke a 25-25 tie with just over four minutes to play in the third and the Lady Patriots did not trail again. They started the final frame holding a 35-30 cushion.
McCrory stayed close in the fourth period, getting 13 points from 6-1 center Jordan Long, who finished with a game-high 23 points.
Fallon Parker's free throw with 2:02 put P-W up by ten, 51-41. The Lady Patriots did not score again until Parker hit another free throw wit 26 seconds left in the game, leading 51-48.
Cara Lansford added 13 points for P-W, which improves to 1-5 while Bernice Sparkman added nine and Parker finished with six points.
The Palestine-Wheatley Patriots will also play for the Thunderbird tournament title.
The Patriots held off Parkin 65-61 Thursday night to advance to Saturday's final against Cross County. That game will tip at 7:45 p.m.
The title game will be a rematch of last week's regular season game, won by the Thunderbirds.
P-W rallied in the second half after trailing 25-23 at halftime. The Patriots led by as many as 10 points in the second half, but some missed free throws late let Parkin keep it close.
Jesse Adams led P-W with 12 points while Vince Jones added 11 and Rashun Barnes had 10. Tony Huntley and Osas Oyara each helped out with nine points.
"I think Saturday's title game will be different than last week's game, especially for us," said P-W Coach Terry Clardy. "We are starting to mesh as a team and the kids off the bench are responding."
Clardy went to his bench early Thursday against Parkin, subbing five-for-five in the first period.
"That is the game plan for the season," Clardy said. "We have used that ploy in the past and we have had success with it."
Parkin will Calvary Christian in the third-place game at 2:45 Saturday.
Calvary Christian lost to Cross County 84-37 Thursday.
In that game, Patrick Jones scored 18 points to lead Cross County.
Jones had help from Keith Bowles came off the bench to score 12 points and grab 10 rebounds. Dewayne Cook scored 11 points, including three 3-point shots. Adam Jackson scored 10 points and had five assists.
Kyle Smith led Calvary with 14 points while Jason Cantrell helped out with eight and Adam Hillis added seven.
Cross County led 29-11 after the first period, 53-13 at halftime and 61-27 to start the fourth period.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
HUGHES -- The Forrest City Junior Mustangs placed three players in double figures Thursday on their way to a 65-21 nonconference win over the Hughes Junior Blue Devils.
Stephon Weaver led all scorers with 18 points while Kelson Stewart added 17 and Marcus Britt added 16 while Rylan Nimocks helped out with eight points. Keith King came off the bench for Forrest city to score four points while Kellon Bowman added two points.
Kevin Brown led Hughes (1-6) with seven points.
The Junior Blue Devils suffered 28 turnovers in the game and shot only 8-of-23 from the floor.
That led to Forrest City leading 123-4 after one period, 35-11 at the half and 59-17 to start the fourth period.
The Junior Mustangs, 5-2 overall, will not play again until Jan. 5th, when they host Jonesboro MacArthur.
On Tuesday, the Hughes senior Blue Devils lost to Marked Tree 57-55. Marcus Washington led the scoring with 14 points while Ricky Davis added 13.
*West Memphis won a grueling battle with Annie Camp, defeating the Whirlwinds 43-40 in overtime Thursday night.
Chris Parks led Annie Camp with 10 points. After a 39-39 tie, West Memphis East outscored Annie Camp 4-1 to win the game in overtime.
*David Craig scored 17 points as the McArthur Cyclones prevailed at home against West Memphis West, 47-31 Thursday.
Roosevelt Griffin scored 15 points for McArthur (7-6), while Jeremy Thomas scored 12.
The Junior Lady Mustangs snapped a three-game losing streak Thursday with a 43-15 win over the Hughes Junior Lady Blue Devils.
Bookita Vaughn led Forrest City (4-3 overall) with 14 points while Fareeda Washington and Cassandra Jackson finished with seven points each.
Hughes' junior girls scored just three points in the entire second half after trailing 13-12 at the half.
The Hughes junior boys, senior girls and senior boys will host Crawfordsville tonight beginning at 5:30 p.m.
*Talya Anderson grabbed 16 rebounds as Annie Camp defeated West Memphis East 33-19 Thursday.
Natashia Lagrone scored 10 points in the Annie Camp win.
*Host MacArthur jumped to a 12-3 lead after a quarter and held on to beat West Memphis West 32-27 Thursday in junior girls' basketball.
Anna Kaloghirou scored 14 points, including six key fourth-quarter free throws, to lead MacArthur (3-2, 2-1 AAAAA-East). Dominique Anderson also made four foul shots in the final period to help the Lady Cyclones hold on.