By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
JONESBORO -- With a state tournament berth at stake, the Forrest City Mustangs came out fighting Thursday night against Jonesboro and held on to down the Hurricane 56-52.
The win gives the Mustangs the fourth seed into next week's Class AAAAA state tournament, which will be played at the new North Little Rock High School Arena.
The Mustangs first-round draw is El Dorado, the No. 1 seed from the AAAAA-South, Wednesday, March 5, at 2:30 p.m.
Jonesboro will go into state tournament play as the third seed from the AAAAA-East and will open first-round play Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. against the No. 2 seed from the AAAAA-Central.
This is the second time under head coach Dwight Lofton the Mustangs have headed into state play as the No. 4 seeded team.
The first time was during the 1997-98 season and the Mustangs lost to Springdale in the opening round.
West Memphis, the conference champs defeated Cabot Thursday in a rather meaningless game to end their regular season and likewise, Searcy, having already sewn up the No. 2 into the state tournament, downed Blytheville.
It is Forrest City's first trip back to postseason since the 2000-01 season when the Mustangs went in as the No. 3 seed and lost to Camden-Fairview at Mustang Arena. The year before, the Mustangs were the No. 2 seed going into state play but lost to Little Rock Central in the first round.
Forrest City junior Lorenzo Spearman, who finished with 15 points, sank two free throws with 2.3 seconds left and Forrest City rattled Jonesboro with its half-court trapping defense. Senior guard Kerry Evans had 17 and sophomore Nick Grady added 13.
With the victory, Forrest City improves to 11-13 overall and 8-6 in the conference while Jonesboro slips to 17-10, and 8-6, ending the regular season with back-to-back losses.
The Mustangs' victory knocks Blytheville out of postseason. Had Forrest City lost, Blytheville would have been the No. 4 seed and the Mustangs would have missed the cut.
*The Jonesboro girls also wrapped up the third seed for next week's Class AAAAA state tournament, scoring the first 15 points of the second half, including nine off of turnovers, after trailing by two at the half to race to a 74-54 victory over the Lady Mustangs.
The Lady Hurricane improve to 18-9 overall and 9-5 in the East while the Lady Mustangs end the season at 12-15 overall and 6-8, fifth in the conference.
Caronica Randle kept the Lady Mustangs close with 29 points and Katrina Floyd added 13 points and 11 rebounds. Sequoria Grady was held to just six points while Shari Rogers had four points and eight assists.
Jonesboro seniors Allison Taylor, Sara Lehman and Tara Lehman combined to score 46 of the Lady Hurricane's 74 points while junior Aquasha Anderson finished with 15.
Down 29-27 to Forrest City at the half, Jonesboro scored 11 points in the first 1:17 of the third quarter.
Sara Lehman scored off an offensive board and Jackie Gilbert converted on a steal in the halfcourt trap before Sara Lehman drained a '3' after another steal.
After a Forrest City miss, Gilbert found Sara Lehman downcourt and Tara Lehman scored on back-to-back follow shots as JHS built a 42-29 lead.
Anderson, who scored 10 in the second half, then scored on three straight baskets, leaning in for a bank on the left block after a no-look zip from Sara Lehman to put JHS ahead 52-34.
The Lady Hurricane forced Forrest City (12-16, 6-8) into 26 turnovers, including six in the fourth quarter that led to runs of 6-0 and 7-0.
Caronica Randle kept the Lady Mustangs close, driving for 18 of her 29 points in the second half but Forrest City could only get within 54-40 with 6:43 left.
Taylor then sank two free throws after getting position inside and then she triggered a fast break with a blocked shot and Tara Lehman sliced in for a layup. Sara Lehman then threaded a needle inside the Forrest City zone and Taylor knocked down a spinning jumper for a 60-40 JHS edge with 4:58 remaining.
Taylor finished with 15 points while Sara and Tara Lehman each had 14.
Jonesboro trailed 29-27 at the half after shooting just 10-of-43 (24 percent). The Lady Hurricane finished with an amazing 93 shots, hitting 29 (31 percent) with so many second chances on the boards. JHS outrebounded the Lady Mustangs 50-34.
"I told them at the half, 'We're getting the shots we
want, they're just going in and out. Just keeping doing it and
they'll fall the second half,'" Birdsong said. "I think
a lot of the rebounding was that we were getting down the floor
quicker than they were, so we were in position to rebound a lot."
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
SEARCY -- It wasn't the worst loss for the Palestine-Wheatley Lady Patriots in recent memory, but it was certainly close.
Playing Carlisle Thursday in the first round of the Region 6 Tournament at Harding Academy in Searcy, the fourth-seeded Lady Patriots struggled to even get into double digits, losing to the top-seeded Lady Bison by 55 points, 74-19.
Last year, the Lady Patriots lost to Ozark by 56 points, 88-32 in a regular season non-conference game.
Playing without two senior starters, dismissed from the team following the Lady Patriots short stay at the 6AA district tournament, the Palestine-Wheatley spotted Carlisle the first 18 points before Libby Martin's three pointer from the corner got P-W on the scoreboard with 4:30 to play in the first period.
By the end of the opening frame, in which the Lady Patriots committed 10 fouls, Carlisle led 35-6. They increased that to 54-12 at the half and 63-17 after three periods.
Brittany Flenory led the Lady Patriots with seven points while beth Varvil had four, Lauren Dover and Martin three and Andrea Cooper two.
Nine of Carlisle's 11 players scored, led by Kim Crow's 22 points.
Carlisle advances to Saturday's semifinal round and will play the Marvell-Des Arc winner.
Palestine-Wheatley ends their season at 14-10.
In other games played Thursday, fourth seeded Elaine shocked top-seeded Augusta 48-46 in boys action as Robert Clash scored 17 points to lead the Panthers.
Jackie Wynne led Augusta with 19 points while Allex Clayton added 15.
The No. 1 seeded Altheimer girls got past Hazen 47-41.
The Palestine-Wheatley Patriots, the No. 2 seed into the regional tournament, will open play today at 5:30 p.m., against the host team Harding Academy Wildcats.
In the other boys' game today, Des Arc and Marvell square off at 8:30 p.m., while Harding Academy battles Gillett at 4 p.m. and Marvell takes on Des Arc at 7 p.m., in girls action.
All four semifinal games will be played Saturday while the two finals will be played Monday.
The two winners and the two runners-up advance to the Class AA state tournament next week at Newark.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
MARMADUKE -- Fourth-seeded Maynard gave top-seeded Hughes all they wanted and more Thursday in first-round play at the Class AA Region 4 Tournament at Marmaduke.
The Hughes Blue Devils had to overcome a 15-point halftime deficit, rallying in the second half to take a 93-91 win over Maynard.
Maynard led 63-48 at halftime before Hughes pulled within 10 points at 76-66 to end the third quarter and then finished the comeback in the fourth for the victory.
Hughes will take on either Bay or Marked Tree in Saturday's semifinal at 8:30 p.m.
The Blue Devils placed four in double figures led by Johnny Washington's 30 points. Malcolm Curne added 24, Jermaine Davis 20 and David Dowden followed with 18 points.
Likewise, Maynard also had four in double figures in the loss, led by Braden Watson with 26. Daniel Cagle added 23 while Blake McClung and Josh Cagle tossed in 13 each.
Senior Girls
Marmaduke 76, Hughes 35
Marmaduke's Lady Greyhounds were anything but the cordial host in their game against the Hughes Lady Blue Devils Thursday.
The top-seeded Lady Greyhounds, 36-2, had a field day in a 76-35 victory over fourth-seeded Hughes.
Brooke Grigsby scored a game-high 27 points and Heather Johnson followed Grigsby with 13 points.
Hughes was making its first appearance in regional tournament play in five years.
Hughes, which ends the year at 9-9, was led by Victoria Doolittle and Daisha Southern, who had seven points each.
Hughes kept the contest within a reasonable distance early in the first quarter before Marmaduke went on an 8-2 run to end the period.
The Lady Greyhounds then pushed their 19-7 first-quarter advantage to a 42-13 lead at the half.
Marmaduke then led 67-27 after three quarters.
Marmaduke will play either Earle or Maynard in Saturday's semifinal action.
Because of the inclement weather this week , the Forrest City Recreation Department has extended its deadline to sign up for the youth baseball and softball summer leagues to Monday, March 10.
Youth league fees before the March 3 deadline are $15 for youths living inside the Forrest City city limits and $25 for those living outside the city limits. After March 10, the fees increase by $5.
Registration for the adult men and women's slow-pitch softball league is under way and continues through March 14.
For more information contact Kenneth Taylor at (870) 633-3667.
LeBron James, the nation's top high school player, was selected as a member of the 2003 McDonald's All-American team and play in the March 26 game at Gund Arena.
James is the best-known name on the list of 24 high school seniors.