By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
FORREST CITY -- And so, the Forrest City Mustangs have apparently risen from an 0-2 conference start to win two AAAAA-East games in a row.
Last Friday's four-point win at Searcy was definitely big, but Tuesday's 62-60 win over Blytheville was huge. It was a shot in the arm for the team.
It also set the stage for an "unrehearsed and impromptu dance" by Forrest City Coach Dwight Lofton, who has owned Blytheville in games played at Forrest City, going 6-2 against the Chicks.
Lofton had to cut his dance short, however. There's not much time between high school conference games and the Mustangs' next challenge comes Friday night from yet another East team that is emerging as an "any night threat" the Mountain Home Bombers, now in their second full season as a member of the East.
The Mustangs swept the Bombers a year ago, but at this stage in the game, Lofton's Mustangs can not take any of the league teams for granted. That has already happened once this season, when the Mustangs may have regarded perennial conference "cellar-dweller" Cabot just a little too lightly.
The Panthers shocked the Mustangs 66-52, at Mustang Arena two weeks ago.
Tuesday, the win over Blytheville came down to the final milliseconds when Forrest City's Taurus Moore gunned a long pass to John Foreman, who hit from point-blank range at the buzzer, handing Blytheville its first AAAAA-East loss of the season.
"In a place like Mustang Arena, it most always comes down to that," Blytheville head coach David Hixson said. "When we play Forrest City, it is always a good ball game. They made the plays they needed to make. We had some opportunities that we let slip away. I think Mustang Arena is probably the toughest place to play in the conference."
The Chickasaws (13-3, 3-1 AAAAA-East) took a 58-57 lead with 43 seconds left and John Fowler hit both free throws to increase the BHS lead to 60-57.
Forrest City senior forward Lorenzo Spearmon answered by drawing a foul in the backcourt, and hit the front end of a one-and-one. He missed the second shot, but the rebound went off a Chickasaw out of bounds with 21.5 seconds left.
After a Mustang time out, Fowler and Moore lunged after a loose ball near mid-court. Fowler was called for the foul, his fifth, and Moore sank a pair at the line to tie it 60-60 with 15.5 seconds left.
Blytheville missed the front end of a crucial "one-and-one", Spearmon grabbed the rebound and made the outlet pass to Moore, who found Foreman for the game-winning layup.
The two late fouls, which led to three of Forrest City's final five points, came at an inappropriate time for Blytheville, but just the right time for the Mustangs, who stand at 10-6 overall and 2-2 in the league, good for third place.
Now the question is, can the Mustangs keep their winning streak going by feeding off Tuesday's "shot or Lofton's dance?"
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
Five former high school girl basketball players -- three from Forrest City, one from Palestine-Wheatley and one from West Memphis -- are making their presence felt at the college level.
Former Lady Mustangs' Deosha Agnew, Caronica Randle and Katrina Floyd are making the transition from high school hoops to college hoops while former Palestine-Wheatley standout Erica Smith-Taylor is now in her third college season. West Memphis graduate Tamala Turner may be making the loudest noise.
Agnew, a 2002 Forrest City graduate opted for Pratt Community College in Pratt, Kansas, but suffered through a difficult freshman season -- which saw her lose her scholarship, her place on the team and the support of her coach. Agnew left Pratt and returned to Forrest City, not certain of her college future.
Enter Kevin Hackerott, Pratt's new women's coach, who with some help from Forrest City Coach Sue Jayroe, was able to reopen the doors for Agnew to return to Pratt.
"She has been a joy to have on the team and joy to coach," said Hackerott. "All she wanted was a chance and she didn't have that chance under the former coach. When Coach Jayroe called about getting Deosha back at Pratt, I was delighted to have that opportunity."
Just like a storybook ending, Agnew's journey has come full circle.
Agnew has started each of Pratt's 20 games so far and the Lady Beavers are 16-4 overall and 4-2 in the very tough Kansas Jayhawk West Conference.
Pratt opened the year with an impressive 11-game winning streak and were ranked as high as 13th in the nation.
Agnew, a 5-8 sophomore forward and the only Arkansas product on the Pratt roster, played a key role in getting the team to those heights.
"There have been several games, including one overtime win, that she just refused to let us lose," Hackerott said. "In that overtime win, she scored 12 points in the extra period. That's the kind of player she is."
Agnew leads the Lady Beavers in rebounding, steals and assists and is third on the team in scoring. Her high game was the overtime win in which she put up 32 points.
She has had a game-high 16 rebounds so far this season.
In the region, Agnew is fifth in scoring (15.2 per game); second in rebounding (8.4 per game); third in steals (2.5 per game) and eighth in assists (3.7 per game).
Meanwhile, just a little to the south, in Seminole, Okla., former Lady Mustang Katrina Floyd is working hard to take her next step with the Seminole State College Lady Belles.
Floyd, who originally committed to Crowley's Ridge College, reversed her decision and opted for Seminole, along with teammate Kanetra Pendleton and West Memphis standout Tamala Turner. The three played against each other in the AAAAA-East for the past three seasons.
Pendleton has since left Pratt, but Floyd and Turner remain along with a third Arkansas product, Latosha Threets from Monticello.
Turner, a 6-0 center who is known as "T.T.", leads the Oklahoma region in scoring and rebounding with 18 points per game and nine rebounds.
Turner has been the team's leading scorer in seven of Seminole's games so far this season, with a single game-high of 27 points.
Turner has started every game for Seminole while Floyd, a 5-9 forward, is getting plenty of playing time.
"Floyd is playing several minutes in each game and she is working hard to get her game to the college level," said Seminole Coach Rita Story-Schell. "She is making the adjustment and is learning the college game. I am very pleased with the progress that she and Turner have made and what each player means to this team."
Floyd's high game so far this season has been 15 points.
The third former Lady Mustang player making her presence felt at the college level is Caronica Randle, a freshman forward at the University of Central Arkansas (Conway).
Like her high school teammate Floyd, Randle originally commited to Arkanssas State University, but changed her mind and decided to head to Conway instead.
So far, the decision was a good one -- for Randle and for the Sugar Bears basketball team.
Randle has played in all 19 games and has started three of those.
The Sugar Bears are coming off an 87-61 victory over the Harding Lady Bisons on Monday night.
In that game, Randle had 10 points -- the ninth time this season that she has finished in double figures. Her high-point game was 23 points in a win over Puerto Rico. She also grabbed 10 rebounds for her first college "double-double."
During the Harding game, Randle finished off a 17-0 scoring run to put the game away with two big free throws.
The former Forrest City Lady Mustang standout is averaging 17 minutes per game and from two-point range, Randle is shooting better than 56 percent, hitting 64 of her 114 attempts from the floor.
From the free throw line, Randle is shooting 63 percent, making 44 of 69 chances.
As she did for the Lady Mustangs, Randle is becoming a force on the offensive and defensive glass for the Sugar Bears, grabbing 71 total rebounds for an average of 3.7 per game. The rest of Randle's game is gaining strength as well. She has dished out 15 assists, blocked seven shots and has come up with 16 steals.
She has scored 174 points which has her fourth on the team in that category.
*It is almost hard to believe that former Palestine-Wheatley standout basketball player and athlete Erica Smith (now Smith-Taylor) is well into her junior season at Louisiana Tech in Ruston, La.
Smith married reigning WBC Continental Americas middleweight champion Jermaine Taylor last summer and added the Taylor while keeping her maiden name.
After leading the Palestine-Wheatley Lady Patriots to the Class AA girls state title in 2001, Smith-Taylor made the decision to take her game to one of the nation's premier NCAA top 10 women's programs, Louisiana tech, where she has become a mainstay with the Lady Techsters
Smith-Taylor is on her way to having an NCAA MVP-caliber season.
Already, she has emerged from a very talented Lady Techster team as one of the top players not only for the 11th-ranked Lady Techsters but in the Western Athletic Conference.
The 5-10 Smith-Taylor, is averaging 12.7 points, 6.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.9 steals per game for Louisiana Tech.
She has hit 41 percent of her field goals this season and 35 percent of her three-pointers.
From the foul line, she is sinking 79 percent of her free throws on the year.
In the past half dozen Lady Techster games -- all conference matchups -- Smith-Taylor has gone on a rebounding tear, averaging 9.3 rebounds per game, including a 15-point, 12-rebound performance at San Jose State and an 11-point, 13-rebound performance At Hawaii.
Husband Jermaine isn't doing so badly either.
Still unbeaten in the professional boxing ranks and ranked in the top 10, Taylor will defend his WBC title against Alex Bunema at Alltel Arena on Saturday, March, 27, headlining the card which is scheduled to be televised by HBO.
by Walter Scott
Since my older son does not get home very often, when he does, we try to do something interesting while he is visiting.
Walter is an outdoors type like his brother, Damon, and myself, so we try to include some outdoor activities along with other forms of entertainment.
The last time he visited, we laid ceramic tile and for our outdoor activity, we chopped some wood.
Tiling a large room can be a lot of work, so I also enjoy a break to cut firewood. Walter thought it was a lot like work, with a break to do more work.
This trip, I decided we would take it easy.
As a family activity, we would put down a new hardwood floor in the living room. It turned out to be more work than one might expect, so by mid-afternoon, we were ready for a break.
We did not need firewood, and we had one unfilled doe tag among the two sons and myself, so we took a quick break to go deer hunting.
The last season is doe only and designed to control the deer population. A mature healthy doe will usually have twins in the spring, which in a few years can increase the deer population exponentially.
This is where we are in Iowa. We have more deer than the traffic or habitat can bear.
I took the first stand while the boys walked the timber toward me. They had barely started in when a nice big doe exited just down the hill from me.
She was in a hurry and being followed by two of last years fawns. I drew a bead and fired. The deer moved faster. I fired two more times as she swung around behind me. Still she did not drop or even break stride.
I was deep in thought as to what could be wrong with my gun when five more does and fawns broke out of the woods and went tearing around the bottom of the hill.
I unloaded at a tasty looking doe as she sped out of sight. It was then, I realized I had forgotten to change my glasses. I wear bifocals for close work, such as cutting hardwood flooring. If a person looks at a distance, such as downhill at passing deer, they are not only out of focus, they are also not where they appear to be.
I first noticed this phenomena while bow hunting. In the wee hours of the morning, in my groggy state, I put on the wrong pair of glasses. Sitting in a tree stand, there were no problems the first hour. It was too dark to see the ground. When it started getting light, I noticed I could not see the ground clearly.
If I looked at the tree I used for a 20-yard range marker and nodded my head, it appeared to move.
It was then and there, I knew bifocals were not designed for hunting.
My sons came out of the woods expecting to see deer laying about all over the place.
Unfortunately, there was not even one. It took little discussion to decide I would walk the next timber and they would block. They took up positions on the two most likely exits while I started into the woods.
A few minutes into my leisurely stroll, I heard one shot. I continued the drive, seeing an occasional doe, but did not shoot. By this time, I had lost all confidence in the deer being where I was shooting and also thought one of the boys probably had a deer. Several shots usually means deer are running and someone is blasting away in hopes of dropping one. One shot usually means a nice clean kill.
This was the case.
By the time I got to the boys, they had the deer cleaned and ready to be loaded.
Hunting is a great family activity. It is even more fun than laying hardwood flooring.
The next time Walter comes home, we might just spend the week turkey hunting.
I do think building a garage might be fun when we need a break from hunting.