By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
SEARCY -- Forrest City sophomore Sequoria Grady made sure the Lady Mustangs chances of getting to the state tournament stayed intact Friday against Searcy.
Grady scored 20 points, grabbed 10 rebounds for her second straight "double-double" and blocked five shots to lift Forrest City over the Lady Lions 63-58 in AAAAA-East Conference play.
The win leaves Forrest City in fifth place alone while Searcy drops to sixth and close to being eliminated from the playoff picture.
The Lady Mustangs are 5-6 in the league while Searcy stands at 4-7.
While Searcy's state tournament hopes took a big hit in the loss, the Lady Mustangs chances are looking much better as the team moved within one game of fourth place.
Forrest City will travel to Jacksonville Tuesday and will host Mountain Home Friday and finish up the regular season next Tuesday at Jonesboro.
The Lady Lions led 23-22 lead at halftime but Forrest City's Shay Agnew opened the second half with a three-pointer and the Lady Mustangs never lost the lead again.
Searcy cut the Forrest City lead to three in the final seconds as Kristie Lee hit a free throw and scored off a putback before Ashlei Dalrymple hit two-of-three free throws to trim the Forrest City lead to 61-58.
The Lady Mustangs, who hit 12-of-18 free throws in the final period, hit two-of-four in the final 15 seconds to seal the win.
Forrest City senior forward Caronica Randle, who picked up four fouls in the first half and fouled out with 4:28 to play, finished 18 points, 10 rebounds and two blocked shots while Agnew had 11 points and Shari Rogers had five rebounds and five assists.
Lee led Searcy with 20 points and Libby Raney added 12.
Dalrymple scored all eight of her points in the final period and Mallory Cramblett added eight.
"It's up to us," said Forrest City Coach Sue Jayroe. "We know Jacksonville will be tough and we have to stay focused. Friday was a big win for us."
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
SEARCY -- The Searcy Lions got hot and stayed hot Friday.
Forrest City played hard but never really got untracked.
That equalled a 73-49 Searcy victory over the Mustangs in a pivotal AAAAA-East Conference game at Searcy.
The win allowed the Lions to remain in a second place tie with Jonesboro in the boys' standings behind league-leading West Memphis.
Jonesboro and Searcy are 7-4 in conference and the Lions are 18-7 overall. Forrest City dropped to 5-6 and 8-13.
"Our guys played hard but it was one of those situations where the harder they tried, the worse it got for us," said Forrest City Coach Dwight Lofton. "We were too tight to start the game and never got untracked. Searcy got hot early and they never cooled down. That was the difference."
For the Mustangs to have a shot at a state tournament berth, Forrest City probably will have to win two of their final three games.
The Lions hit nine three-pointers, including four by Scotty Johnson and three by Brandon Lynch, including a bomb that made it 53-27 early in the second half.
Searcy opened the fourth quarter with the 30-point "mercy rule" in effect, which allows the clock to run continually for the final eight minutes.
"Everything looks a lot better when we're shooting the ball well," Searcy coach Roger Franks said.
Besides the red-hot perimeter shooting, Searcy got inspired inside play by sophomore Kyle Wray, who finished with 11 points and 13 rebounds.
Wray's three-point play and follow shot a possession later gave SHS a 63-34 lead with 1:48 left in the third quarter.
Forrest City's Kerry Evans scored 25 of the Mustangs' 49 points, marking the third straight game the senior guard has scored 25 points or more.
Tym Edwards and Johnson led the way with 16 points each for the Lions while Lynch finished with nine and Andrew Starks had seven. Searcy's Brad Lewis added 11 points, nine of that total coming in the first half as Searcy led 48-27 at the half.
Searcy led 11-2 early before the Mustangs' only real rally of the game cut the lead to 14-10.
Edwards scored seven consecutive points and Johnson ended the period with the first of his four three-pointers as the Lions pushed their lead to 24-12.
Searcy opened the second half with another run, this time a 7-0 effort.
Forrest City plays at Jacksonville Tuesday night and will host Mountain Home Friday before ending the regular season against Jonesboro.
EARLE -- Turrell swept the championship trophies at the 3AA-South junior high district basketball tournament Friday.
The Turrell junior high girls rolled past Hughes 43-30 in the girls' final, while the Turrell junior boys edged Hughes 44-40 in their final.
Whiquita Tobar scored 13 points and Dominique Turner added 11 for the Turrell girls, who finished 20-1.
Derris Hopkins poured in a game-high 26 to power Turrell's boys. Willie Tobar added 14 for the Rockets (12-2).
The 3AA-South senior high district tournament opens tonight at Cross County.