By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
Forrest City's five Junior Mustang starters played only three quarters Thursday night and their time on the floor was more than enough to produce a 57-51 win over West Memphis West.
The starters took a seat for the entire second period after building a 24-9 lead in the team's final regular season home game at Mustang Arena.
Even though West put together a nifty 9-0 run midway through the second period, Forrest City still maintained a 38-23 edge at the half.
With the starting five back on the floor in the third, the Junior Mustangs led 49-34 to start the final period as West continued to chip away at the Junior Mustang lead getting it to six for the final.
Forrest City improves to 12-3 overall and 8-2 in the AAAAA-East Conference with two games left to play. The Junior Mustangs remain in second place behind league-leading Jonesboro MacArthur, which had the night off Thursday.
Marcus Britt led Forrest City with 14 points, 10 of that coming in the first period while Stephon Weaver finished with 13 and Kelson Stewart adding 12 points.
Deangelo Craig led West by scoring 18 points, 11 in the first half.
*Annie Camp's junior boys pushed their AAAAA-East Conference record to 5-5 with a 47-25 victory over Blytheville Thursday night at Hurricane Gym.
Murray Benton led Annie Camp (10-6) with 14 points.
Annie Camp led 14-3 after the first quarter, 21-14 at halftime and 33-21 after the third quarter.
The Forrest City Junior Lady Mustangs fell behind early in the first half which left them short by 10 points as West Memphis West won the AAAAA-East Conference game 46-36.
Forrest City trailed 13-2 after one period and 23-15 at the half.
They got within five points at 35-30 in the fourth period.
The Junior Lady Mustangs slip to 6-9 overall and 2-8 in the league.
Astrin Allen had 10 points for Forrest City while Cassandra Jackson and Bookita Vaughn each had nine.
Brea Banks led West with 18 points while Chance brown had 11.
*Lindsey Farris scored 17 points, and Nettleton's junior girls defeated Wynne 38-35 at Raider Gym Thursday night.
*Natasha LaGrone helped snap a 30-30 tie to lift Annie Camp's girls to a 34-30 AAAAA-East Conference victory Thursday night over Blytheville.
Annie Camp stands at 7-10 overall and 5-5 in the East. LaGrone had nine points on the night, while Lauren Hall added seven points.
For Blytheville, Whiquitta Tobar had 12 points.
Annie Camp will play at West Memphis West Monday before hosting Forrest City on Thursday, Feb. 12.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
GILLETT -- The Forrest City Mustangs and Lady Mustangs head to Cabot tonight for a conference matchup against a pair of teams on opposite ends of the conference standings.
The Mustangs, in a holding pattern in fifth place in the AAAAA-East Conference following three consecutive losses, face the Panthers, once again the league cellar-dwellers at 2-6.
However, one of the Panthers' two conference wins came against the Mustangs at Mustang Arena.
That makes this Cabot team a concern for Mustang Coach Dwight Lofton.
Cabot up-ended the Mustangs 66-52 in the conference opening game back in early January.
They didn't win against until Tuesday night when they turned back Mountain Home, which gives them a head of steam headed into tonight's game.
The Mustangs are coming off a loss to West Memphis and desperately need to snap out of the current three-game slide.
With five losses, the Mustangs can ill-afford another conference loss at this point.
"We have one more loss to give and then we have to make a strand," said Lofton. "We have to take care of business if we want to get back into the top four and into the state tournament. That makes every game crucial, especially the road games."
In the past seven games played on Cabot's home floor, the Mustangs are 5-2.
Over in the girls' side of the standings, the Lady Panthers have apparently adjusted well to new coach Carla Crowder.
The Lady Panthers are sitting in second place in the conference standings at 7-1, just one game removed from league-leading Jonesboro.
Meanwhile, the Lady Mustangs are struggling to find their scoring touch and are 2-6 in the league.
Under coach Sue Jayroe, the Lady Mustangs have recorded three victories against Cabot, two of those coming on the Lady Panthers home floor.
In the first meeting this season in January, Cabot walked away with a 66-41 win at Mustang Arena.
The Lady Panthers have lost only to league-leading Jonesboro since.
There is no junior varsity tonight.
The Lady Mustangs will tip at 6 p.m. and the senior boys game will follow at approximately 7:30 p.m.
*The Palestine-Wheatley Patriots and Lady Patriots will make their third road trip of the week tonight, when they travel to Barton.
P-W played at Clarendon Tuesday and Gillett last night.
The Hughes Blue Devils will complete their regular season tonight by hosting Turrell.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
Forrest City lineman Stephen Henry is going to the University of Arkansas in the fall -- but it's not to the hills of Fayetteville.
Friday morning, Henry signed a letter-of-intent with the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff.
Henry, a two-time AAAAA-East All-Conference selection and two-time Class AAAAA All-State selection, made it official as his mother, Teresa Banks, Forrest City Mustang Coach Donnie Willis and Forrest City high School Principal Abbie Robinson looked on.
"It has been a pleasure to be able to know and coach Stephen these past three seasons," said Willis. "Now he is taking the next step in his football career and in his life and I think he understands this next step is a big one for him. I wish I had 30 young men just like Stephen."
Henry will be joining a football program in the midst of change as UAPB recently underwent a coaching change. Long-time Golden Lions Coach Lee Hardman resigned in early december following UAPB's third straight losing season.
Henry, at 6-3 and 325 pounds, anchored the Mustang offensive line for each of the past three seasons as a starter during his sophomore, junior and senior seasons. He said he is looking forward to the challenge of playing college football.
"I've tried to keep a good work ethic here at Forrest City and I want to do the same thing at UAPB," Henry said. "The coaches here stuck with me and encouraged me to work hard and get stronger. I appreciate all they have done for me."
Teased for his size when he was younger, Henry turned his size into a plus on the football field, even though he admits he wanted to play baseball more than football.
"I wanted to be a catcher," Henry said. "Coach Willis saw me on the baseball field and talked me into playing football. My mom always wanted me to play football but I wanted to play baseball. Coach Willis taught me that being big was a good thing. All I had to do was turn my size into an advantage for myself."
"I'm very proud of what he has accomplished," Banks said. "Now, he has an opportunity to play at the next level and get an college education at the same time."
Henry is the oldest of four brothers and his uncle is former
Forrest City standout athlete Arthur Banks.
The seventh-grade boys and girls games between Forrest City and West Memphis West, originally scheduled for Saturday morning at Mustang Arena, have been cancelled according to Forrest City Coach Sue Jayroe.
Jayroe said several of the Forrest City players are scheduled for testing on Saturday and also said that the West teams are facing a shortage of players as well.
Forrest City's seventh-grade teams have participated in two basketball jamborees in recent weeks -- one at Palestine-Wheatley and the other at Brinkley.
Jayroe's seventh-grade girls are undefeated in five games while
Dwight Lofton's seventh-grade boys are 3-2 through the five games.
Registration for the upcoming Forrest City Recreation Department's youth baseball and softball seasons will begin Monday, Feb. 2, and will continue through March 15.
Registration for the adult men's and women's softball league will begin on March 1.
The registration process for the adult leagues will continue through April 2.
The youth baseball and softball fees are $15 per child living in the Forrest City city limits and $25 per child living outside the city limits.
Adult softball league fees are $350 per team plus a $10 fee for each out-of-town player on each team.
The minimum age to participate in the adult women's softball league is 17.
Registration for either of the above-mentioned leagues can be made at the Forrest City Recreation Department, located at Forrest City City Hall.
For more information call Kenneth Taylor at 633-3667.