By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
The Jacksonville Red Devils got a head start in the AAAAA-East Conference race Friday, defeating Mountain Home 59-52.
The win gives the Red Devils a 1-0 conference mark and a leg up over the rest of the league teams.
Jacksonville will try to pad its lead by two games Tuesday when they host Searcy.
The remainder of the East teams -- Forrest City, Blytheville, Cabot, Jonesboro and West Memphis do not begin league play until Friday.
Forrest City, (2-7) which ended 2002 with a non-conference victory over Wynne on Dec. 20, hope to begin 2003 the same way when they take on Wynne Tuesday night in a rematch, this time at Yellowjacket Gym.
The Mustangs will open conference play Friday when they travel to Cabot. Other Friday matchups have Blytheville at Mountain Home, Jacksonville at Jonesboro and Searcy at West Memphis.
Next week, the Mustangs will host West Memphis and Searcy.
"Things will definitely start to heat up next week," said Mustang Coach Dwight Lofton. "We need to use Tuesday's game against Wynne to get back into shape, because after being off for two weeks, we will probably be sucking air for a while."
In girls' action, the Mountain Home Lady Bombers took the league lead with a 65-31 thrashing of Jacksonville Friday.
The 1-10 Lady Red Devils will host Searcy Tuesday.
The Forrest City Lady Mustangs will be trying to end a three-game losing streak when they take on Wynne Tuesday night.
Forrest City (5-7) lost all three games at the Conway Lady Cat Invitational played over the Christmas break.
In other boys' games played Friday, Osceola moved to 12-0 for the year and 2-0 in the 3AAA South by defeating Trumann 74-55. It was the 40th consecutive win for the Seminoles dating back two years.
Turrell's Joe Gibson scored a game-high 22 points as the Rockets ran away from Cross County in the second half Friday to post a 60-32 win in 3AA-South action.
The Turrell girls cruised past Cross County 70-16 to improve to 16-0.
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Friday's Scores
Senior Boys
Bay 48, Walnut Ridge 44
Black Rock 78, ORC 51
Corning 52, Rector 51
Couch, Mo., 76, Williford 50
Gosnell 76, Harrisburg 40
Jacksonville 59, Mountain Home 52
Osceola 74, Trumann 55
Pine Bluff 49, LR Hall 45
River Valley 53, Cave City 50
Tuckerman 78, Biggers-Reyno 57
Turrell 60, Cross County 32
Senior Girls
Arkansas Baptist 50, Augusta 36
Black Rock 34, ORC 30
Cave City 43, River Valley 37
Couch, Mo., 81, Williford 57
Guy-Perkins 60, Rural Special 47
LR McClellan 41, LR Fair 26
LR Mills 46, Pulaski Robinson 42
Marked Tree 67, Crawfordsville 36
Mountain Home 65, Jacksonville 31
Sloan-Hendrix 51, Lynn 42
Turrell 70, Cross County 16
Monday, January 6
Forrest City Blue at MacArthur, 5 p.m.
Annie Camp at Forrest City White, 5 p.m.
Tuesday, January 7
Forrest City at Wynne
Searcy at Jacksonville
LR Central at Bryant
North Little Rock at LR Catholic
Marvell at Palestine-Wheatley
Earle at Hughes
AAAAA-East Conference
Senior Boys Conf O/all
Jacksonville 1-0 3-9
Forrest City 0-0 2-7
Blytheville 0-0 0-0
Cabot 0-0 0-0
Jonesboro 0-0 0-0
Searcy 0-0 0-0
West Memphis 0-0 0-0
Mountain Home 0-1 4-7
Senior Girls Conf O/all
Mountain Home 1-0 7-5
Forrest City 0-0 5-7
Blytheville 0-0 0-0
Cabot 0-0 0-0
Jonesboro 0-0 0-0
Searcy 0-0 0-0
West Memphis 0-0 0-0
Jacksonville 0-1 1-10