By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
The Forrest City Mustangs are a team searching for an identity.
Only three games ago, the Mustangs had quietly won six of seven, including three in a row to win the Osceola tournament.
Now that AAAAA-East Conference play is in full swing, the Mustangs are 0-2. Losses to Cabot and West Memphis have the Mustangs struggling to stay above .500.
To say that the conference path gets any easier tonight would be a boldface lie.
The Mustangs have to travel to Searcy to take on the Lions -- yet another conference team looking for the right combination.
Searcy opened league play with a loss to Jacksonville and then lost to West Memphis.
One of the two teams will put up their first conference "W" tonight. The other will fall to 0-3 with a long, uphill battle in front of them. Climbing back from an 0-3 start in the East isn't impossible, but it sure ain't easy.
"Searcy is a solid team," said Forrest City Coach Dwight Lofton. "They have one of the best veteran coaches in the league and just like us they have their backs against the wall. That makes them dangerous, especially on their home floor. This is a crucial game for them and for us."
The East race for the top four qualifying spots into the Class AAAAA state tournament will be very interesting this year. Already, three of last year's top four East teams are 0-2 -- Jonesboro, Searcy and the Mustangs.
To have any hopes of getting a win over Searcy, the Mustangs have to find their shooting touch. In the two previous games, they haven't come anywhere close to buying a basket.
Against West Memphis Tuesday, a 66-41 loss, the Mustangs shot 31 percent from the floor (16-of-51). It was worse against Cabot as the Mustangs hit just 19 of their 59 attempts from the field. For those keeping up, that's 35-of-110 in two games. Roy Parker, who got hot during the Osceola tourney, was just 3-of-11 against Cabot while senior go-to forward Lorenzo Spearmon was only 4-of-13 against the Blue Devils.
"Who are you gonna beat shooting like that?" Lofton said. "We have to find some offense. And we have to find it in a hurry."
One thing Lofton will do against Searcy tonight is open in a man defense instead of the 2-3 zone the Mustangs have started with in the past two games.
"We have always been a team noted for scrappy defense and our tough man-to-man play," Lofton said. "I went to the zone and we ended up getting lazy. We weren't moving as much and that spread to our defense. So we're going back to man."
Lofton said he is still searching for someone who can "put the game on their shoulders" when they have to.
"We don't have that person on the floor, yet." Lofton said. "I don't know if he is on the bench either. This team has to find an identity. Every one of my past seven Mustang teams could be described in one word and they were all unique and different. This team hasn't gotten to that point yet. They don't have that kind of identity to be summed up in just one word."
*The Lady Mustangs are also looking for offensive help and like the Mustangs are off to an 0-2 start.
Tonight, the Lady Mustangs face the Searcy Lady Lions (1-1 in the East) at Searcy.
Forrest City Coach Sue Jayroe needs a victory for her girls in the worst way. They will have to earn it without starting guard Crystal Seawood, who is out of town.
In her place, Jayroe will start Torrie Willis, who has been more comfortable coming off the bench, for the Lady Mustangs this season.
Junior forward Sequoria Grady, who had 29 points in Tuesday's loss to West Memphis, is trying to play through some pain in both knees.
"Going into tonight's game, some things are not in check, but we will be okay," jayroe said.
Jayroe said her Lady Mustangs will open in a half-court trap and will concentrate on stopping Searcy's baseline play.
A year ago, the two teams split with Searcy winning at Forrest City and the Lady Mustangs winning on Searcy's home floor.
The junior varsity girls will play at 5 p.m. to open the three-game set.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
The Forrest City Junior Lady Mustangs ended a three-game slide Thursday night and picked up their first AAAAA-East Conference win of the season disposing of Jonesboro Annie Camp 35-24 at Mustang Arena.
The game wasn't without suspense.
Annie Camp stayed close until the fourth quarter when Forrest City (5-6, 1-5 AAAAA-East) began to put some distance between them and the Lady Whirlwinds.
Leading 23-21 to start the final quarter, the Junior Lady Mustangs outscored Annie Camp 12-to-3 in the period to secure the win.
Fareeda Washington led Forrest City with 17 points, which included a pair of threes. Bookita Vaughn finished with nine points, hitting three, three-pointers. Cassandra Jackson added six.
Annie Camp led 9-7 after the opening quarter but Forrest City rallied to tie the game twice in the second quarter and eventually worked their way to a 17-12 halftime lead.
Forrest City led by as many as six points in the third but Annie Camp used three free throws by Shatel Lee with 41 seconds left to give Jonesboro a one-point lead at 21-20.
Vaughn's three put the Lady Mustangs back in front 23-21 at the buzzer. Natasha Lagrone and Kierra Harris each had eight points for Annie Camp.
It was a study in frustration for the Forrest City Junior Mustangs Thursday as Jonesboro Annie Camp came to town.
After scoring 75 points in Monday's win over Blytheville, the Junior Mustangs struggled to break the 30-point barrier.
Using 14 points from Marcus Britt, the Junior Mustangs finally prevailed, holding off the Whirlwinds 33-29, to move to 9-2 overall and 5-1 in the AAAAA-East Conference.
"We were a little out of synch," said Forrest City Coach Jimmy Williams. "And maybe it had something to do with scoring 75 Monday night."
It was as if both baskets had lids locked down tight as Forrest City led 3-2 after one quarter.
By the half, Annie Camp had taken a 15-14 lead using four free throws (a conventional foul and a technical on the Forrest City bench). The rally wiped away a 12-6 Forrest City lead with 1:12 to play.
The Junior Mustangs tied the game twice in the third period, at 15-all and again at 17-all before Rylan Nimocks put Forrest City up 19-17 with a fade-away jumper. From that point, the Junior Mustangs went on to build a 21-19 lead to start the fourth quarter.
Annie Camp (7-5, 2-4 AAAAA-East) tied the game at 23-23 and again at 25-25 before Forrest City pushed the lead to 29-25 with two minutes to play.
Annie Camp crept to within two at 29-27 which forced Forrest City into a holding pattern, broken by Britt's back door layup with 55 seconds to play and a 31-27 lead.
Still, Annie Camp wouldn't quit. A rebound basket with 20 seconds left got the Whirlwinds back within two points at 31-29 before Britt closed out the scoring by hitting both ends of a one-and-one with 4.1 seconds to play.
Stephon Weaver helped out with seven points while Nimocks had six.
Chris Parks led Annie Camp with 10 points.
The Forrest City junior high basketball teams will not play again until Thursday, Jan. 22, when they host West Memphis East to start the second half of the conference schedule.
The Calvary Christian School elementary boys and girls picked up wins on Saturday over Macon Road Baptist.
The CCS boys won 43-8 getting 15 points from Seth Smith, 12 points from Fletcher Myers, eight points from William Burks and four points each from Ryan Lee and Josh Halford.
The girls used eight points by Mary Burks to take a 21-10 win over Macon. Katie Borden added five points while Summer Hess had four and Kaitlyn Hill and Kriston Heard had two points each.
Also last Last week, the CCS Eagles lost to Central Baptist 63-36. Kyle Smith led CCS with 13 points while Luke Myers had 11, Adam Hillis seven and Jason Cantrell four.
Calvary's Lady Eagles lost to Central Baptist 62-18 with Katie McNair scoring 12 points. Danielle Howard finished with four points and Beth Huckaba added two points.
The Calvary junior varsity boys lost 43-16 with Seth Smith getting seven points and William Burks adding five.
The junior varsity girls lost 54-5. Courtney Burns scored three points while Summer Hess had two points.
The junior and senior high Eagles will play at Faith Heritage tonight beginning at 5:30 p.m. The same two Calvary teams will host CHE Monday, beginning at 5:30 p.m.
Palestine-Wheatley High School will host a seventh-grade basketball jamboree on Saturday, Jan. 24.
The four-team, round-robin format will include Palestine-Wheatley, Forrest City, Marianna and Brinkley teams.
The jamboree is a fund-raising effort for the P-W athletic fund and admission will be $1 per person and will tip at 8 a.m.