By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
NORTH LITTLE ROCK -- Fort Smith Southside exploded for scoring runs of 12-0 and 8-0 in the first half and the Jonesboro Hurricane never got closer than nine points in the second half.
That equalled a 71-60 Jonesboro loss to the Rebels in the first round of the Class AAAAA state basketball tournament Thursday at Wildcat Arena in North Little Rock.
That leaves West Memphis as the lone representative from the AAAAA-East in the boys' bracket.
Forrest City was eliminated Tuesday by North Little Rock and Blytheville fell to Conway Wednesday.
West Memphis, the No. 1 seed from the East slid past Fayetteville Wednesday and will return to second-round action tonight when they face Camden-Fairview at 8:30 p.m.
Camden-Fairview defeated Little Rock Parkview 39-38 Thursday to advance.
A year ago, West Memphis was ousted from the tournament field in the second by eventual champion Pine Bluff.
Southside's Brandon Yarbrough scored 16 of his 23 points in the first two quarters, including a back-breaking 3-pointer with :02 left in the half to push the Rebel lead to 36-21 at the break after Jonesboro had gone on an 8-0 run to close within 12 points.
Jonesboro (18-9), the third seed from the East, missed its first four shots and hit just 3-of-15 attempts in the first period.
Jonesboro junior Ryan Williams scored 26 points but 17 came in the second half as Southside frustrated the standout early by employing double- and triple-teams out of man-to-man and 1-3-1 zone sets.
Jonesboro lost in the first round for the third straight year.
Southside improves to 19-9 and advances to face Little Rock Hall today.
In other boys games Thursday, Fort Smith Northside advanced to Saturday's semifinal game by turning back Conway 58-42.
At the Class AAAA State Tournament in Beebe Thursday, defending champion Little Rock Fair will try to take another step toward a possible second straight title today when they take on Sylvan Hills at 5:30 p.m.
Sylvan Hills, which will return to the AAAAA-East Conference in the fall, turned back Harrison 68-56 Thursday in first-round play.
North Pulaski downed Clarksville 76-73 and Morrilton beat Pulaski Robinson 56-51.
Sylvan Hills drilled six three pointers in the first half to help turn away Harrison.
The Bears improve to 23-5 for the year. Harrison ends the year at 17-11.
North Pulaski's Byron Lawrence scored 20 points to lead the Falcons in their win over Clarksville.
North Pulaski faces Batesville tonight at 8:30 p.m.
In Class AAA State Tournament play at Ozark, EPC held Lonoke to just 23 points in a second round win Thursday. The 44-23 win puts EPC into Saturday's semifinal against today's Pulaski Academy-Pine Bluff Dollarway winner.
Pulaski Academy, 32-0, is looking for its third straight state title.
In other games Thursday Gosnell downed Gravett 77-59 and Marianna defeated Mena 64-54.
At the Class AA State Tournament being played in Centerpoint, Marked Tree opened with 45-43 win over Bergman, Parkers Chapel downed Sloan-Hendrix 62-41 and Turrell downed Lafayette County 70-46.
Marked Tree will face defending state champion Altheimer today.
In Class A State Tournament action at Lynn on Thursday, McNeil needed overtime to put away Holly Grove 70-64 while Norfork edged Pleasant View 42-41 and Waldo ran past defending state champion Weiner 45-33.
NORTH LITTLE ROCK -- Samantha Dean nailed seven 3-pointers on her way to a game-high 26 points as the Mountain Home Lady Bombers knocked off the Fort Smith Southside Lady Rebels 47-41 Thursday afternoon in the opening round of the Class AAAAA State Basketball Tournament at Charging Wildcat Arena.
Mountain Home (19-8), the No. 3 seed from the AAAAA-East Conference, faces the El Dorado Lady Wildcats today at 4 p.m.
In other girls' games Thursday, Jonesboro was ousted by Fort Smith Northside leaving Mountain Home and Cabot as the two representatives from the East. Cabot faces Conway tonight at 7 p.m.
Dean, who hit seven, three-pointers in one period against Forrest City earlier this year, sparked Mountain Home with two 3-pointers in the opening quarter as the Lady Bombers built a 17-10 lead after one quarter.
Rachel Wise added eight points for Mountain Home, Micaela Cully tossed in nine, and Kaitlin May and Daysha McGrath scored eight points each.
Jonesboro (21-8) led by as many as 10 points in the second half and by five with 3:36 to play but Northside capitalized on some key turnovers late and buried 8-of-8 free throws in the final 1:45 to steal a 57-50 victory over the Lady Hurricane Thursday in the second round of the Class AAAAA state basketball tournament at Wildcat Arena.
Northside (23-4), champions of the AAAAA-West, won consecutive state titles from 1999-20002.
At the Class AAAA State Tournament in Beebe, Siloam Springs defeated Stuttgart 65-49, Harrison eliminated West Helena 64-40 and Vilonia got past Morrilton 36-33.
Morrilton was the defending AAAA state champs. Harrison won the state title three consecutive times from 2000-2002.
In Class AAA State Tournament action at Ozark, Mountain View upended Booneville 63-560, CAC downed nashville 63-35 and Ozark ousted Highland 55-49.
Today, defending state champs DeQueen take on Lonoke.
Greers Ferry Westside continued their run with a 64-50 win over Earle in the Class AA State Tournament at Centerpoint while Union ran past Newark 74-67 and Valley Springs eliminated Carlisle 35-30.
And finally, at the Class A State Tournament in Lynn, it was Gould taking down McNeil 63-28, Scranton over Sulphur Rock 59-43 and Weiner sending Humphrey home 42-25.
Play continues today and Saturday with the overall state championship games scheduled to be played March 12-12 at Alltel Arena in North Little Rock.
RUSTON -- Former Palestine-Wheatley standout Erica Smith-Taylor scored a game-high 21 points to lead sixth-ranked Louisiana Tech to an 82-70 win over Rice Thursday night before 6,138 fans at the Thomas Assembly Center.
With the victory the Lady Techsters (23-2, 16-1) clinched at least a share of the 2004 Western Athletic Conference regular season title and Tech can win the title outright Saturday night with a victory against Tulsa.
Louisiana Tech outrebounded Rice 41-31 while also forcing a season-high 28 turnovers by Rice.
"There are not too many teams that can come in here and shoot the ball the way Rice did," Budke said. "I'm glad we were at home. This game wasn't so much about payback as it was about the fact it was the next game for us on our road to the conference title. Our defense ignited us all night long."
Rice (18-8, 15-2) lost for just the first time in the last 13 games, ending the Lady Owls school record 12-game winning streak.
However, Rice didn't go down easily as the Owls hit their first three shots from the field to jump out to a 7-0 lead at the 18:33 mark of the first half, quieting the Thomas Assembly Center crowd.
Tech finally scored on a shot by sophomore Tasha Crain, who saw her first extended playing time in the last three games after recovering from an injury suffered in a win over SMU Feb. 21, and the two teams traded buckets.
With Rice leading 20-14 at the midway mark of the first half, Tech finally got rolling as the Lady Techsters responded with a 15-0 run that covered five minutes as was capped by a Smith-Taylor lay-up at the 6:32 mark of the half to give Tech a 29-20 advantage.
Rice answered with a run of its own cutting Tech's advantage to 38-35on a Lindsey Maynard three-pointer with 0:25 left in the half. Trina Frierson, who ended with 18 points and eight rebounds, hit an eight-footer to give the Lady Techsters a 40-35-halftime lead despite five three-pointers by the Lady Owls.
The second half started slowly for both teams with Tech still holding onto a five-point advantage at 44-39 before the Lady Techsters built their first double digit lead of the contest at 49-39 on a free throw by redshirt freshman Tamika Kursh at the 13:58 mark of the game.
Tech extended the advantage out to 70-53 at the 4:49 mark of the game as the run was ignited by six straight points by junior guard Lakiste Barkus, who finished the night with 11.
However, Rice would not go away as the Lady Owls cut the Tech lead down to eight at 78-70 with under a minute remaining before time ran out.
"They really attacked us hard and got us on our heels," Rice head coach Cristy McKinney said. "Turnovers and rebounding were the keys to this game. I'm not disappointed in my team's effort though. We showed we belonged."
La Tech senior Amisha Carter scored 19 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, while recording five steals and three blocks in 38 minutes of action and missed the 20-point plateau for just the second time in 10 games.
Maynard led Rice with 18 points while Michelle Woods scored 17 and Eshombi Singleton added 12.
The Lady Techsters end the regular season Saturday at 7 p.m.,
against Tulsa.