By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
Sometimes the brass ring is so close, it's almost impossible to reach out and grab.
That speaks volumes for the Forrest City Mustangs, who will host Mountain Home tonight at Mustang Arena.
The Mustangs are tied for fourth place in the AAAAA-East conference with Blytheville. Each team has two games to play.
Each team has to win out if they hope to earn the promotion to the next level -- the Class AAAAA state tournament at North Little Rock.
Oddly enough, each team is dependent on the other for some help.
A Forrest City loss tonight would most certainly help Blytheville, who has a date with perennial league cellar dweller, Cabot.
A Blytheville loss (one can only hope) to Cabot would give the Mustangs the upper hand headed into Tuesday's final season date -- Forrest City at Jonesboro and Blytheville at Searcy.
If both Forrest City and Blytheville win tonight, the tie for fourth will linger until Tuesday. If both teams win or lose Tuesday night, the chase for fourth ends in a tie which brings into play head-to-head competition, points and whatever else is available to help settle the issue.
For Lofton, Tuesday means nothing without a win over the Bombers tonight.
There's not much history between Mountain Home and Forrest City to refer back to.
Mountain Home moved over to the AAAAA-East this season along with Searcy, replacing Little Rock Mills and Sylvan Hills, who dropped down one step to Class AAAA.
When the Mustangs and Bombers played for he first time back on Jan. 24, it was Forrest City taking a 61-49 win.
The Mustangs are 4-3 in conference games since then while Mountain Home is 2-5.
Advantage, it would seem, to Forrest City.
*Meanwhile Sue Jayroe's Lady Mustangs may be putting a "patchwork" lineup on the floor tonight.
One starter, Shari Rogers is listed as tentative for the game as are Christal Summage and Teela Lee, who missed Thursday's practice with flu-like symptoms.
Tonight is the final home game and is Senior Night which means Jayroe's four seniors -- Caronica Randle, Katrina Floyd, Kanetra Pendleton and Erika Haggans will start alongside Shay Agnew. Sophomore Sequoria Grady is trying to shake off a minor knee injury from Tuesday's game.
"Bottom line is we have to win out to get to the state tournament," Jayroe said.
The Lady Mustangs are in fifth place in the conference standings going into tonight's game.
The girls have to produce a win over Mt. Home tonight by a margin of five points or more and then will have to defeat Jonesboro in Tuesday's regular season final.
That would give the Lady Mustangs the No. 4 seed into the state tournament. If they win both games and defeat Jonesboro by more than eight points, Forrest City would have a shot at being the No. 3 seed.
"Those are some mighty big ifs," Jayroe said. "But not impossible. We are very capable of winning both remaining games."
Mountain Home handed the Lady Mustangs a 43-38 loss in the first meeting in a game played at Mountain Home.
The Lady Bombers are tied with Jonesboro for the fourth spot in the girls' conference standings.
Tonight's three-game set begins at 5 p.m. with a junior varsity girls' game.
The varsity girls will follow at 6 p.m. and the boys about 7:30 p.m.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
BLYTHEVILLE -- All the Forrest City Blue Mustangs had to do Thursday was protect their lead and the ball for the final 1:50 to take home the AAAAA-East district tournament title.
Three turnovers however, proved fatal for the Blue Mustangs as West Memphis West capitalized and edged Forrest City 47-44 in the junior high boys' championship game played at Blytheville.
In the junior high girls' championship game, the Annie Camp Lady Whirlwinds completed a perfect season with a 42-28 victory over crosstown rival MacArthur.
Annie Camp (23-0) led 15-2 lead after one quarter and cruised to victory.
Kailey Pinson pumped in a game-high 15 points and Jermece Smith added 11 for the Lady Whirlwinds.
Anna Kaloghirou scored 13 to lead MacArthur.
With WMWest trailing all night, by as much as 13 points early in the third quarter, Terry Simmons knifed his way through the Forrest City Blue defense time after time and rallied WM West to the victory.
Simmons was named the tournament MVP.
Simmons scored a game-high 28 points as second-seeded West finished the season at 19-4. Forrest City Blue finishes at 15-7.
Forrest City, the tournament's fifth seed, was making it's first appearance in the district championship game since 1988 and was nearly crowned the Cinderella of the week.
The Blue Mustangs knocked off top-seeded Wonder Wednesday night in double overtime and had West on the ropes right until the end.
FCity eighth-graders Stephon Weaver and Marcus Britt, who had 21 and six points respectively, took an early 25-14 lead.
West began to chip away at the Forrest City lead, thanks to swarming backcourt pressure defense in the fourth quarter.
The West press forced six Forrest City turnovers in the final stanza.
West tied the game at 40-40 and with 1:22 to play Simmons hit a free throw to give West its first lead of the game, 43-42.
Another Thomas theft and basket, with 1:13 to play, gave West a 45-42 cushion.
Fifteen seconds later Thomas sealed the win with another steal and fed Williams for a layup for a 47-42 lead.
Michael Alston added 11 points for Forrest City.
Thursday marked the end of the three-season, two-team era for Forrest City Junior High, which will return to a one-team format next season in all sports.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
CLARENDON -- Palestine-Wheatley's senior boys scored the winning basket with .5 seconds to play to clip Elaine 82-81 Thursday night at the 6AA District Tournament in Clarendon.
The win moves the No. 3 seeded Patriots into tonight's semifinal matchup against No. 2 seeded Marvell at 8:15 p.m.
For the P-W Junior Patriots, the ending wasn't as good, as the fourth-seeded junior boys lost to top-seeded Altheimer.
Altheimer will face either Clarendon or Marvell in Saturday's final.
The senior Patriots win assures the team of no worse than the No. 3 seed into the Region 6 Tournament next week.
The Barton junior girls defeated Gillett Thursday to reach Saturday's final game where they will face the winner of the Palestine-Wheatley/Clarendon semifinal game which will be played today at 4:30 p.m.
Barton is the No. 1 seed while P-W is the No. 2 seed.
In senior girls' play Thursday, No. 3 seed Gillett defeated No. 4 Elaine Thursday to advance to tonight's semifinal against Marvell. The loss leaves Elaine out of the loop for the upcoming regional tournament and the Palestine-Wheatley Lady Patriots as the No. 4 seed into the regional tournament, which will be played next week at Harding Academy in Searcy.
The Earle girls and Crawfordsville boys earned spots in tonight's finals with victories Thursday in the 3AA-South district basketball tournament.
Latoya Cheers and Jerlisa Davis scored 15 and 14 points, respectively, to lead Earle by Marked Tree 57-49 in the girls' semifinal. Crawfordsville edged Parkin 44-40 in the boys' semifinal.
Earle will play unbeaten Turrell in tonight's girls' final at 6, while Crawfordsville will meet Hughes in the boys' final at 7:30.
Rudy Martin scored 17 points for Marked Tree in defeat. Naurita Bell added 14 and Amy Ballard 12 for the Lady Indians, who trailed 28-20 at halftime.
Jerlisa Davis scored 15 and 14 points, respectively, to lead Earle's Lady Bulldogs by Marked Tree 57-49 in the senior girls' semifinal.
Earle will play unbeaten Turrell tonight at 6 p.m., in the girls' championship game, which will determine the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds into regional tournament play next week.
Marked Tree will be the No. 3 into the upcoming Region 4 Tournament at Marmaduke while Hughes, a 60-43 loser to Turrell on Tuesday, will be the No. 4 seeded team into the regional.
Crawfordsville edged Parkin 44-40 in the boys' semifinal to set up the third meeting of the year tonight against top-seeded Hughes in the boys championship game at 7:30 p.m.
Hughes won both regular season games against Crawfordsville and won the 3AA-South Conference title withan 11-1 mark.
The winner will be the No. 1 seed into the Region 4 Tournament next week at Marmaduke.
Parkin, seeded sixth into the district tournament, stunned No. 3 seeded Turrell Tuesday night to set up Thursday's game against second-seeded Crawfordsville.
Parkin will be the No. 3 seed into the regional tournament while Marked Tree, an 83-82 loser to Hughes on Tuesday, will be the fourth seed.
Marked Tree is coached by former Forrest City standout basketball player Barbara Wilburn.