By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
CLARENDON -- Palestine-Wheatley couldn't stop Clarendon senior center Amber Hunter Tuesday night and that was the difference for the Lady Lions.
Hunter scored 27 points to lead all scorers and the Lady Lions past Palestine-Wheatley 50-42 in 6AA Conference action at Clarendon.
"We couldn't stop her inside, because we really don't have a true post player," said P-W Coach Lanny Allen.
Clarendon's win Tuesday erased a 35-29 loss to P-W in the first matchup between the two teams in early January. In that game, Hunter was held to just 13 points.
The Lady Patriots trailed by just one point, 27-26 at the half but Clarendon put together an 18-to-8 run in the third period to lead 45-34 to begin the fourth period.
The latest loss leaves the Lady Patriots with a four-game losing streak and 4-13 overall and 3-5 in the conference.
Bernice Sparkman led the P-W effort by scoring 18 points while Fallon Parker helped with nine points, all of that in the first half. Tonisha Wynne added eight and Cara Lansford had four.
The P-W Patriots ran their win streak to four games Tuesday with a 100-70 win over Clarendon.
Six Patriot players finished in double figures led by senior center Vince Jones with 23 points.
The Junior Patriots won their game over the Junior Lions, getting 30 points from Phil Hicks.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
For the third straight game, the Forrest City Mustangs dug themselves a deep hole from which they could not escape.
As they had done the previous two conference games against Jacksonville and Jonesboro, the Mustangs trailed by the half which meant trying to bolster enough offense for a second-half rally.
Trailing by as many as 18 points in the first half, the Mustangs gave it their best shot in the second half but came up short against the state's No. 2 ranked West Memphis Blue Devils, losing 75-55 at Mustang Arena.
Against Jacksonville one week ago, the Mustangs trailed by 10, but lost by six, 60-54. Friday, against Jonesboro, the Mustangs again trailed by 10, but lost by only four 75-71.
Tuesday's loss to West Memphis, a team that has not lost a game since losing twice in the November Rumble on the Ridge tournament, leaves the Mustangs with a three-game losing streak and a 3-5 record in the AAAAA-East Conference and 11-9 overall.
Forrest City remains in fifth place with six conference games to play -- three of those on the road.
West Memphis, ranked first in Class AAAAA, is unbeaten in the conference at 8-0.
Clarence Weems led the Blue Devils with 23 points while Cortez Jeffries added 20 and Quentin Furlow had 11.
Forrest City senior forward Lorenzo Spearmon led the Mustangs with 20 points and got help from Chris Williams, who finished with three, three-pointers and 12 points.
"Our lack of scoring production from the two-guard spot was very evident Tuesday," Forrest Ciity Coach Dwight Lofton said. "West Memphis got 11 points from their two-guard spot."
Since the season started, the Mustangs have lost two players at the two-guard spot -- Nick Grady and John Foreman.
"Last night's loss gives us five losses in the conference and the way I see it, we only have one more loss to play with," Lofton said. "Every game from here on out is crucial if we want to be in North Little Rock for the state tournament."
Lofton added that his players gave "a tremendous effort against West Memphis."
"We knew going in we couldn't run with them," Lofton said. "That was not an option for us. West Memphis is playing 10 guys and they get 20 points from Jeffries, their No. 5 scorer. We learned a lot last night. We played hard. We just couldn't get over the hump, again."
The Mustangs stayed close for the first period, trailing 17-12 to start the second period. The opening quarter saw three ties and eight lead changes before the Blue Devils took control in the second period.
The Blue Devils held Forrest City to just seven points in the second period and went into the half leading 30-19.
A 9-0 run to open the second half helped West Memphis push their lead to 40-23 with 2:40 to play in the third.
The Mustangs did make some scoring noise late in the period and trailed 50-35 to start the final period.
Forrest City sliced the Blue Devils lead to 13 points at 58-45 with 6:13 to play in the game but that would be as close as the Mustangs would get.
West Memphis closed out the game with a 15-to-10 scoring run to set the final.
Forrest City got to the free throw line only nine times and converted four of those efforts while the Blue Devils hit 16 of their 23 foul shots. In the third period, Forrest City was whistled for six fouls while West Memphis was flagged only twice.
The Forrest City Lady Mustangs took only 23 shots from the floor Tuesday against West Memphis and hit only 10.
Meanwhile, West Memphis lit up the scoreboard for a 60-25 victory in AAAAA-East Conference play at Mustang Arena.
"You have to shoot the ball to have a chance to win a game," said Forrest City Coach Sue Jayroe. "We didn't shoot the ball. It wasn't that we didn't shoot the ball well, we just didn't shoot. We just kind of shut down."
The win leaves the Lady Blue Devils at 14-9 overall and 6-2 in the conference standings, third behind Jonesboro and Cabot.
The Lady Mustangs fall to 6-15 overall and 2-6 in the league and in sixth place.
The 10-for-23 shooting night by Forrest City included nine two-point field goals and one three pointer. The Lady Mustangs attempted only eight free throws and made four of those.
The 25 point total is a season low for the Lady Mustangs and the lowest point total since the 2001-02 season when the lady Mustangs lost to Mount St. Mary's 58-29.
Junior forward Sequoria Grady led Forrest City with 13 points while West Memphis sophomore center Keona Brooks led the Lady Blue Devils with 15 points. Jessica Johnson added nine points while Marquette Hollins had eight and Serita Jones came off the bench to add six.
West Memphis led 19-3 after one period and pushed that to 29-11 at the half. By the fourth period, West Memphis led 44-18.
In other girls' games Tuesday, Jacksonville defeated Searcy 56-53, Jonesboro downed Blytheville 63-49 and Cabot rolled up Mountain Home 51-35.
The Forrest City Lady Mustangs will begin their fast-pitch softball season on March 4 when they host West Memphis.
Head Coach Amber Main released the schedule today as well as the 2004 roster which includes returning pitcher Stacey Gracey and Mallory Nelson.
The Lady Mustahgs will field three seniors, five juniors and nine sophomores this season.