By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
CABOT -- The Forrest City Lady Mustangs have Cabot's number -- at least for now.
Friday night, in the AAAAA-East Conference opener for both teams, the Lady Mustangs used a free throw by Caronica Randle with 6.2 seconds left in the game to steal a 46-45 win from the Lady Panthers.
The Forrest City Mustangs rolled to a 21-2 lead after one period on their way to a 58-37 win over the Cabot boys.
It was the second consecutive victory over the Lady Panthers and their third win in the last five meetings. . .and the second time in the past two seasons the Lady Mustangs have defeated Cabot on the Lady Panthers' home floor. It is the girls' second straight conference-opening victory. Forrest City defeated Sylvan Hills last year to begin league play.
Forrest City defeated the Lady Panthers at Cabot two years ago to close out regular season and won at Mustang Arena last February in the second meeting of the year.
"I'm undefeated in conference and you can print that," Forrest City Coach Sue Jayroe said after the game. "To come into Cabot and get a win like this is big, especially since we have two tough games ahead of us."
The Lady Mustangs improve to 7-7 overall and 1-0 in the East. Cabot slips to 13-4 overall and 0-1.
Forrest City will host top-ranked West Memphis Tuesday at Mustang Arena and Searcy Friday night.
The Lady Panthers had been on a roll headed into Friday's league opener taking the girls' 3A-4A-5A division title at the Northeast Arkansas Invitational Tournament and defeated Benton in their final nonconference game on Tuesday.
Forrest City has now won two in a row after losing three games at the Conway Invitational over the holidays.
The Lady Mustangs led by 13 points, 31-18, late in the second period and settled for a 31-23 lead at the half.
Cabot got within 43-39 with three minutes to play in the fourth period after a Lady Mustang turnover and tied the game at 43-43 with 1:57 to play on a jumper by sophomore Ashley Anderson.
Another Forrest City miscue led to a free throw by Anderson and a 44-43 Cabot lead and a free throw by Alyson Boone put the Lady Panthers up by two, 45-43 with 39 seconds showing.
Randle's jumper tied the game at 45-45 and her free throw became the winning points as Cabot lost the ball out of bounds trying for a last-second winning shot.
Randle finished with 23 points while Gabrielle Agnew added six and Shari Rogers finished with five. Sequoria Grady, playing with a broken finger, had four points as did Katrina Floyd.
Boone led Cabot with 13 points and Chelsi Sheridan added 12. Anderson, who sat most of the first half in foul trouble, finished with eight points and Emily Fulmer had six.
Cabot hit five, three-pointers in the game. The Lady Mustangs sank 12-of-15 free throws.
Lorenzo Spearmon tossed in 15 points to lead the Mustangs (4-7, 1-0) past Cabot Friday.
Kerry Evans added 11 points and Markee Ervin finished with 10 while Antonio Bean had seven and Deangelo Braddock chipped in six points.
Brad Payne led Cabot (4-8, 0-1) with 11 points while Russ Stark had eight and Josh Watkins added seven.
The Mustangs led 35-14 at the half and 43-28 to start the fourth period.
"It was good to get the win," said Forrest City Coach Dwight Lofton. "We started fast, which was good, but then we got a little sloppy and we need to work on that."
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
CLARENDON -- The Palestine-Wheatley teams walked away with a three-game sweep over Clarendon Friday night in 6AA Conference basketball action.
The Palestine-Wheatley Lady Patriots evened their season mark at 6-6 on Friday with a 64-29 win over the Lady Lions.
The 64 points was the most productive outing of the year for the Lady Patriots, who stand at 3-0 in the league.
In junior girls action, Keisha Stovall scored 14 points and Tonisha Wynne and Fallon Parker added nine points each in a 45-19 win over Clarendon's junior girls.
It was the first action in 20 days for the Junior Lady Patriots who stay unbeaten for the year at 6-0 overall and 2-0 in the league.
In senior boys action, the P-W Patriots ended a three-game slide with a 6AA win over the Lions.
The Patriots improve to 11-3 and 2-1 in the conference.
The Junior Patriots and Junior Lady Patriots will host DeValls Bluff tonight at Wheatley for junior high homecoming activities.
The junior boys will tip at 5 p.m. and the homecoming court will be introduced at half time of the boys' game.
The junior girls will tip at approximately 6:30 p.m.
The senior high teams will play at Barton Tuesday night.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
PARKIN -- Jermaine Davis scored 19 points Friday to help lead the Hughes Blue Devils past Parkin 57-49 in a 3AA South Conference game played at Parkin.
David Dowden added 18 points in the win as the Blue Devils improved to 9-4 for the year and remain unbeaten and in charge in the league at 5-0.
Hughes is ranked seventh in this week's Class AA high school rankings.
The Blue Devils needed overtime Thursday to down Crawfordsville 86-81.
Also Friday, the Lady Blue Devils got 14 points from Tisha James in a 40-24 win over Parkin's Lady Tigers.
Hughes improves to 3-4 overall and move to 3-2 in the 3AA South.
The Junior Blue Devils continued their winning ways with a victory over Parkin's junior boys.
It was the second win of the week for the Junior Boys, who defeated Crawfordsville Thursday.
Hughes will host Turrell Tuesday night and Marked Tree Friday.
The unbeaten Turrell Lady Rockets, ranked first in Class AA, are 18-0 for the year and are coming off a 55-23 win over Marked Tree Friday.
The Turrell Rockets defeated Marked Tree 59-51 Friday in senior boys' action.
The Executive Committee of the Arkansas High School Coaches Association met in December 2002 and finalized the selection of six members into the 2003 AHSCA-AOA Hall of Fame.
The New AHSCA honorees are the late John Wyatt of Clarksville (basketball), the late Raymond Peters of Little Rock (football), Sam Goodwin of Arkadelphia (football), Thednal Hill of Highland (basketball), Orville Ashley of Prattsville (basketball) and Willie Click of Nashville (basketball).
In November the Arkansas Officials Association selected Gary Benson of Mountain Pine (basketball), Eddie Bryan of Pine Bluff (football, basketball), Walt Coleman of Little Rock (football), Jesse Gatewood of Little Rock (basketball), Jim Hill of Pine Bluff (baseball), and Jack Pickney of Little Rock (football).
The installation banquet will be Friday, July 25, at the Hot Springs Convention Center. Ticket and additional information at a later date.
* PREP BASKETBALL
Friday's Scores
Senior Boys
Batesville 70, Paragould 47
Bay 70, Walnut Ridge 66 (OT)
BIC 81, Rector 47
Black Rock 53, Pocahontas 44
Cross County 50, Earle 44
EPC 81, Harrisburg 23
Forrest City 58, Cabot 37
Gosnell 60, Senath-Hornersville 52
Hughes 57, Parkin 49
Jacksonville 50, Jonesboro 43
Maynard 114, Marmaduke 109, 3OT
Mountain Home 56, Blytheville 43
Palestine-Wheatley defeated Clarendon
Riverside 74, Brookland 63
Sloan-Hendrix 54, Calico Rock 49
Tuckerman 58, White Co. Central 44
Turrell 59, Marked Tree 51
Valley View 54, Trumann 43
Weiner 90, Delaplaine 76
West Memphis 60, Searcy 34
Wynne 42, Nettleton 22
Senior Girls
Batesville 43, Paragould 25
Blytheville 40, Mountain Home 34
Earle 40, Cross County 22
Forrest City 46, Cabot 45
Highland 51, Corning 40
Jonesboro 60, Jacksonville 41
Nettleton 43, Wynne 40
Palestine-Wheatley 64, Clarendon 29
Pocahontas 49, Hoxie 19
Sloan-Hendrix 52, Calico Rock 29
Tuckerman 50, White Co. Central 29
Turrell 55, Marked Tree 23
Westside 55, Piggott 52
West Memphis 68, Searcy 47
Junior Boys
Bay 45, Walnut Ridge 35
BIC 55, Rector 13
Delaplaine 39, Weiner 32
Earle 50, Cross County 47
Marmaduke 52, Maynard 47
Pocahontas 35, Black Rock 14
Riverside 46, Brookland 33
Sloan-Hendrix 56, Calico Rock 18
Valley View 47, Trumann 26
Junior Girls
Corning 28, Highland 26
Palestine-Wheatley 45, Clarendon 19
Monday, January 13
DeValls Bluff vs Palestine-Wheatley
at Wheatley - Homecoming
WM Wonder at FCity White
FCity Blue at Blytheville