By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
Lonoke basketball coach Wes Swift is one game away from a return trip to Pine Bluff.
Saturday. Swift's Jackrabbits put away Subiaco Academy 56-36 at the Class AAA State Tournament being played at Prescott to get into today's semifinal round.
Lonoke will face East Poinsett County in the late semifinal game scheduled to start at 8:30 p.m.
Pulaski Academy and Pine Bluff Dollarway will hook up in the 2:30 p.m. semifinal. The two winners will play for the AAA state title Friday at 3:30 p.m., at the Pine Bluff Convention Center.
Two more victories and Swift will have his second state title in three years.
Swift won the AAA state title in 2001, his final year as head coach of the Hughes Blue Devils.
That Hughes team finished 35-1 beating Clarksville 70-65 to win the championship.
Now, in his second season at Lonoke, Swift has his Jackrabbits, 24-8, in line for a shot at the state title.
"It's going to be tough," Swift said Monday morning. "EPC is very good and Marcus Monk is one of the best. Even if we get past EPC and to Pine Bluff, it's very likely that we would be going against Pulaski Academy, who are the defending champions, and that also is an extremely tough draw. We don't need just to pull a rabbit out of our hats, we need to pull a big old jackrabbit out of that hat."
During Hughes' run to the state title two years ago, Swift's Blue Devils knocked off Lamar, Dumas and Pulaski Academy in the Class AAA regionals and then disposed of Dardanelle, Hamburg and Ozark in the state tournament to reach the finals.
Ironically, in the 1999-2000 season, Swift's Blue Devil team lost to Lonoke in the semifinals of the Class AAA state. Lonoke went on to win the state title for the second consecutive season.
"The 2001 championship Hughes team was on such a roll," Swift said. "They expected to win each time they stepped on the court because they had the confidence level. I was always skeptical, but that's just part of being a coach. This Lonoke team is good and we have some solid players, but I'm not sure they have the confidence level that the Hughes team had when they won it two years ago. It's two completely different teams and different players and different mindsets. This Lonoke team is extremely talented, they are more physical and bigger that the Hughes team and my guys are playing hard. Hopefully, we can get some breaks early and go from there."
At Lonoke, it has been an up and down ride for Swift, especially last year as he endured losing three starters to injuries and eligibility and still made the state tournament cut, losing to Heber Springs in the second round.
Meanwhile, Hughes, playing under first-year coach Brad Brannen made it as far as the semifinals of the state tournament, losing oddly enough to EPC.
Swift looks back at the circumstances of last season and laughs.
"It didn't matter whether I had stayed at Hughes or not," Swift said. "Last year, Brad lost senior guard Lonnie Smith to a broken leg in the final football game of the year and I lost Floyd McBride, my big center, to a torn ACL before the season got underway."
Swift, who says he is allergic to playing "zone" defense, said that could be an option against EPC and Monk tonight, although it won't be the norm.
"You know me," Swift said. "I will stay with "man-to-man" as long as we can."
RUSTON -- Former Palestine-Wheatley basketball standout Erica Smith has been named to the All-Western Athletic Conference's Second Team as well as to the WAC All-Defensive Team.
Smith, a sophomore guard at Louisiana Tech, joins Lady Techster teammate Amber Obaze on the second team.
Tech senior center Cheryl Ford was named to the All-WAC First team and was voted the league's Most Valuable Player, repeating that honor for the second year.
Last year, as a freshman, Smith was named the WAC co-Freshman Player of the Year and named to the WAC Newcomer Team. As a senior at Palestine-Wheatley High School, Smith helped lead the Lady Patriots to the 2001 Class AA state title.
Tech finished the regular season at 26-2 and 18-0 in league play, and the No. 6 national ranking.
Smith averaged 11.3 points, 4.1 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.7 steals per game and hit a team best 35 three-pointers on the year while also recording a team-high 64 steals.
Top seeded Louisiana Tech will open defense of its Western Athletic Conference Tournament title Wednesday at 6 p.m.
The Palestine-Wheatley Lady Patriot softball team will open the season today when they host DeValls Bluff at 4 p.m. at the high school field.
The Palestine-Wheatley Patriots opened their 2003 baseball season Friday with an outstanding effort despite losing 5-4 to McCrory.
Today's scheduled game at Elaine has been cancelled.
Also today, the Forrest City Lady Mustang softball team will travel to Blytheville today for a doubleheader against the Lady Chickasaws, beginning at 4 p.m.