By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
CABOT -- Forrest City Coach Dwight Lofton altered his lineup Friday night and the effort paid off as the Mustangs held off the Cabot Panthers 53-40 at Cabot.
It was a matter of trust for Lofton, who went with sophomores Jarvis Palmer and Michael Alston and little used junior center LaCody Braddock in search of the win.
"You have to go with you trust," Lofton said. These three guys have been playing hard in the junior varsity games and they have shown me they want to be on the floor."
The Forrest City victory ends a three-game conference losing streak and avenges an earlier loss to the Panthers at Mustang Arena.
Forrest City improves to 4-5 in the AAAAA-East Conference and 12-9 overall and moves back into fourth place in the league standings with five games left to play.
Midway through the fourth period, Lofton had three sophomores on the floor -- Palmer, Alston and Cameron Henderson, who has been starting for the Mustangs.
Senior forward Lorenzo Spearmon led Forrest City with 10 points, but it was the play of Alston, Braddock and Palmer which helped Forrest City get the win.
All three Mustang players, getting the most playing time in a varsity game this season, finished with five points.
"The points really don't tell the story," Lofton said. "It was the things they did on defense and away from the ball that helped us get the win."
Taurus Moore scored seven points for the Mustangs while Chris Williams also added five. Roy Lee Parker finished with eight while Henderson and Buck Braddock added four points each.
The Mustangs scored he first eight points of the game and settled for a 10-7 lead to start the second period.
Cabot closed the gap in the second period and trailed by a single point, 21-20 at the half.
The Panthers stayed close in the third period and were still within one point at 26-25 before Palmer nailed a two and Alston bagged a three to put the Mustangs up 31-25.
Following a time out Moore's steal led to a layup and Palmer's two free throws left the Mustangs in front 35-26 with less than a minute to play in the third period.
The Panthers did not go quietly.
Trailing by 10 points early in the fourth, Cabot put together a 9-0 scoring run to get back within 41-38 with 2:56 to play.
Williams' two free throws and Parker's traditional three-point play gave the Mustangs some breathing room at 44-38 before Henderson fouled out.
Two Cabot free throws cut Forrest City's lead to four points at 44-40. With 1:42 showing.
The Panthers missed a long three and Forrest City blew an easy layup before Parker turned his second three-point play of the period giving the Mustangs a 47-40 cushion.
Moore dropped in two free throws and Buck Braddock got loose for a two-handed slam to end the game.
Cabot drilled six, three pointers for the game led by Brad Payne and Trae Rigdon, who had two threes each. Payne finished with nine points while Rigdon had eight.
"It's still a race to the finish, we just narrowed the gap a little," Lofton said. "We have to go to Blytheville Tuesday and then Searcy comes here Friday. Those are both big, big games for us."
In the girls game, the Lady Mustangs played much better than they did in Tuesday's loss to West Memphis but still came up a little short against the Cabot Lady Panthers.
Cutting Cabot's lead to just five points, three different times in the fourth period, the Lady Mustangs just couldn't get over the final hurdle, losing to the Lady Panthers 65-56.
Trina Wynne scored 20 points to lead Forrest City while Shari Rogers had 15 and Sequoria Grady finished with 12 points. Viveca Kimble added nine points.
The Lady Mustangs hit seven, three pointers in the game but Cabot worked the foul line, hitting 24 of their 31 free throws.
The loss leaves Forrest City at 6-16 overall and 2-7 in the AAAAA-East Conference. Cabot improves to 18-2 overall and 8-1 in the East.
Cabot led 17-10 after one period after falling behind 4-0 to Forrest City. Kimble hit back-to-back field goals to open the game.
The Lady Panthers held a 33-21 lead at the half.
Forrest City continued to stay close in the third period and trailed by only eight points, 46-38 to start the fourth period.
Grady's long three got the Lady Mustangs within five points at 48-43 with 6:20 to play and Rogers' two free throws kept the Lady Mustangs within five.
The Lady Panthers pushed their lead back to seven points before Wynne took a pass underneath from Rogers for the easy layup cutting the Lady Panthers advantage back to 56-51 with 1:30 left in the game.
Cabot dropped in nine of their next 10 free throws to finalize the game.
Ashley Anderson led Cabot with 16 points while Brittney Goings finished with 14 and Kim Sitzmann added 10.
The Lady Mustangs will travel to Blytheville Tuesday where they will try to stop their three-game slide.
Forrest City downed Blytheville 62-52 in the first meeting played at Mustang Arena.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
HUGHES -- Adidus Cooper hit five 3-pointers to help give Turrell a 58-57 victory over Hughes Friday night as the Rockets also captured the 3AA-South conference title.
Cooper scored 16 points while teammate Nathethoe Gibson led Turrell (17-6 overall, 9-3 3AA-South) with 21 points.
David Dowden led Hughes with 23 points.
Turrell led 15-14 after the first quarter, but Hughes took a 31-25 lead at halftime. Hughes led 42-40 at the end of the third quarter.
The 3AA South district tournament will be played at Earle High School, beginning Monday, Feb. 16.
Turrell wrapped up a perfect run through the 3AA-South conference with a 46-38 victory over Hughes Friday night in senior girls' basketball at Blue Devil gym.
Demetricie Elmore led Turrell (20-2 overall, 12-0 3AA-South) with 12 points while Shanatey Delaney and Anshel Cooper both finished with 10 points.
*Cara Lansford had little trouble adjusting to the move from point guard to shooting guard last week.
Lansford scored 17 points Friday night to lead the Palestine-Wheatley Lady Patriots past Barton 72-36.
"After the way she shot the ball against Marvell the week before, I decided to move her off the point," P-W Coach Lanny Allen said.
Coupled with Thursday's loss at Gillett, the Lady Patriots improve to 5-15 overall and 4-6 in the 6AA Conference with two regular season games left to play
P-W led 15-6 after one period against Barton and scored 26 points in the second period to take a 41-15 advantage at the half.
The Lady Patriots scored 25 in the third to push their lead to 66-29.
Bernice Sparkman finished with 16 points, Tonisha Wynne had 13 and Fallon Parker added 10 while center Whitney Smith finished with nine.
Thursday night at Gillett, the Lady Wolves stayed unbeaten in conference play by taking a 57-53 win over P-W.
In that game, Sparkman and Parker each had 14 points while Wynne finished with 13 and Lansford had nine.
The Lady Patriots had a chance for the win, getting a steal with 40 seconds left but turned the ball over before getting off a shot.
"After that we had to start fouling," Allen said.
In junior high girls action, the Junior Lady Patriots picked up two victories last week, a 37-16 win over Gillett Thursday and a 33-18 win over Barton on Friday.
At Gillett, Keisha Stovall led P-W with 11 points while Chelsea Jumper had six and Deidra Ingram had five.
Against Barton, Jessica Smith finished with 10 points while Jumper had nine and Ingram had eight.
The junior girls have one game left -- Thursday at Elaine, before starting district tournament play on Feb. 16.