By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
EARLE -- The Hughes Junior Blue Devils will play for the 3AA-South Junior District title tonight.
They earned that right Thursday by putting down Crawfordsville 57-42 in semifinal play at Earle.
It was the second consecutive night that Hughes put up 57 points. In Tuesday's first-round game, the Junior Blue Devils defeated Cross County 57-33.
Marcus Washington led Hughes with 24 points while Kerrick Scofield added 22. Xavier Dowden finished with five and Derrick Brace had four.
Thursday's semifinal win puts the Junior Blue Devils into the district finals for the fifth straight year. Hughes has won the title twice -- in 2000-01 and 1998-99 -- and finished as runners-up twice last year and in 1999-00.
Hughes will play Turrell, an eight-point winner over Earle Thursday night, in the district championship game tonight at 7:15 p.m.
Hughes led 14-9 after one period and 24-17 at the half before outscoring Crawfordsville 15-to-6 in the third period to take a commanding 39-24 lead to start the final frame.
Crawfordsville's Alvin Nance led all scorers with 28 points, 15 of that total coming on five three-pointers.
*In the junior girls' semifinal game Thursday, the Hughes junior girls are back in the district finals for the time in two years.
Despite having three players foul out of the game, Hughes got 16 points from Yakita Johnson in a 41-32 win over Cross County.
Ticara Doolittle added seven points while Shatina Tiggs had five and Daisha Southern added three points.
Tiggs, Southern and Joyce Tucker all fouled out as Hughes was whistled 28 times and Cross County was hit with 22 fouls in a game that last almost a hour and an half.
Hughes led 9-5 late in the first period before Cross County tied the game at 9-9 to begin the second period.
Hughes regained an 18-16 lead at the half despite falling behind 15-14.
Johnson took over in the third period, scoring on a pair of bank jumpers and then banking in a pair of free throws off the backboard as Hughes pushed their lead to a more comfortable 28-17 with 1:45 to play in the period.
Hughes completed the period by outscoring the Lady Thunderbirds 14-to-6.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
The Forrest City Blue Mustangs struggled in the second quarter but regrouped to outscore Jonesboro Annie Camp 35-to-14 in the other three periods to take a 37-24 victory in AAAAA-East junior boys' basketball Thursday at Mustang Arena.
Larry Bean led the Blue team with 14 points while Stephon Weaver had eight points, despite playing sick. Weaver hit two big three-pointers to help the Blue team hold off Annie Camp.
Marcus Britt added eight points.
FCity Blue (13-6 overall and 8-6) will be the No. 5 seed into the postseason conference tournament and will play fourth-seeded Jonesboro MacArthur, Monday, Feb. 17, at 3:30 p.m., at Blytheville.
Ivory Richardson led the Whirlwinds (8-10, 6-8) with eight points.
MacArthur 54, FC White 37
Jonathan Million poured in a game-high 23 points in a 54-37 Cyclones victory Thursday in junior boys' basketball.
Matt Garner added 15 points and Fielder Kelly contributed 11 for MacArthur (12-6, 8-6).
Junior Girls
Annie Camp 45, FC Blue 19
The Annie Camp Lady Whirlwinds completed a perfect regular season with a 45-19 victory over Forrest City Blue Thursday night in junior girls' AAAAA-East conference basketball.
With the win Annie Camp finished the regular season at 20-0 overall, 13-0 in conference play.
The No. 1 seeded Lady Whirlwinds will play Blytheville Monday at 8 p.m., at the postseason conference tournament at Blytheville.
Against Forrest City Blue, Jermece Smith scored 14 points and had eight steals to lead Annie Camp. Talya Haskins followed with 10 points and Cara Pasley added eight for Annie Camp.
The Lady Whirlwinds held Forrest City Blue scoreless the entire second quarter, using a 15-0 run to take a 27-6 lead at the half.
Astrain Allen led the Blue Lady Mustangs with nine points.
MacArthur 40, FC White 17
Tarzanna Thompson led MacArthur with 18 points as the Lady Cyclones easily defeated the Forrest City White Lady Mustangs 40-17 in junior girls' basketball Thursday at MacArthur.
MacArthur led 7-4 after the first quarter, 16-11 at the half and 29-13 after three quarters.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
Forrest City notched a huge conference victory Tuesday over Blytheville, which moved Dwight Lofton's Mustangs into sole possession of fourth place in the AAAAA-East and back in contention for a state tournament berth.
Sue Jayroe's Lady Mustangs mowed down the Blytheville girls to end a three-game losing streak.
Tonight, both teams hit the road to play Searcy.
Searcy, along with Mountain Home, are in their first season in Class AAAAA, moving up from the AAAA ranks and both teams are hanging tough in the East.
The Searcy boys are tied with Jonesboro for second place while the Lady Lions are tied with Forrest City for fifth place with identical 4-6 league records.
That makes tonight's game of the utmost importance for both teams, who still retain playoff hopes.
A Forrest City win over Searcy gets the Lady Mustangs back to 5-6 in the standings.
Back on Jan. 17, when Searcy visited Mustang Arena, the Lions and Lady Lions took home victories.
Tonight's two-game set begins at 6 p.m. at Searcy High School.