Stories from Tuesday, January 19, 2016

The Arkansas Activities Association has announced sites for the 2016 regional and state tournaments in basketball, baseball, softball and track. Marmaduke will host the 2A State Basketball Tournament while Sloan Hendrix will serve as host for the Class 2A North Region. The 3A State Tournament will be held in Jessieville, while the 3A Region 3 site is Yellville-Summitt. In baseball, Marked Tree will serve as host for the Class 2A North Regional Tournament while Parkers Chapel will host the 2A State Tournament. The Class 3A Region 3 Baseball Tournament will be played at Bergman while Smackover and Norphlet will co-host the Class 3A State Tournament. In softball, Marked Tree will be the site for the 2A North Regional Tournament while Parkers Chapel will play host to the Class 2A State Tournament. The 3A Region 3 Softball Tournament will be held in Bergman while Smackover and Norphlet will host the 3A State Tournament. In track and field, England will serve as host for the Class 2A state meet while Green Forest will hold the 3A state meet.

Riverside rolled over Buffalo Island Central 47-20 in senior girls basketball action Monday night at Lake City. The Lady Rebels bolted to a 16-6 lead after the opening quarter and held a commanding 24-8 advantage at the half. Riverside stretched its lead to 38-13 after three periods of play and coasted in the fourth quarter to the victory...

Rivercrest outscored Manila 31-12 over the final nine minutes, and pulled away for a 75-46 victory in senior girls 3A-3 conference action Thursday night at Lion Gym. The Lady Lions trailed just 44-34 at the 1:54 mark of the third period, fueled by a 7-0 run, but the Lady Colts answered with a 10-4 spurt of their own to take a 54-38 lead into the final frame...

Manila outscored Rivercrest 17-3 in the fourth quarter to rally past the Colts for a 41-32 victory in 3A-3 conference action Friday night at Wilson. The two teams slugged it out for the first three periods, each struggling to put points on the board. The Lions began the game, opening up a 14-5 lead, before settling for a seven point advantage after the first break...

Riverside's stirring second half rally propelled the Rebels to a come from behind 70-65 overtime victory over archrival Buffalo Island Central, delivering head coach Buster Campbell the perfect birthday present in 2A-3 conference action Tuesday night at Lake City. BIC bolted to a 14-5 lead midway through the opening quarter, thanks to three consecutive triples from junior guard Dax Hurst. The Rebels battled back, scoring seven unanswered points, capped off by Braden Overman's three pointer from the top of the key to slice the Mustang lead to two. Travon Cobb's lay-in closed out the period with BIC ahead 16-12. The Mustangs continued to rain treys in the second stanza, getting back to back three pointers from Trey DePriest. Riverside stayed close, thanks to the strong inside play of Chris Sain, who scored eight second period points, including a tip-in to close the half, carving the Mustang lead to a slim 26-25 edge. BIC continued to lead through most of the third quarter, and pushed their advantage to 37-32 on a steal and lay-up by DePriest at the 3:05 mark. Riverside charged back, getting a three point play from Sain to cut the Mustang lead to two. Sain's offensive stick-back with 1:45 left in the quarter gave the Rebels their first lead of the night, 40-39. BIC answered with back to back three point bombs from Hurst and Chayse Carmichael to go ahead by five before Sain's 10-foot floater at the buzzer cut the Mustang lead to 45-42 entering the final frame. The two teams swapped leads throughout much of the fourth quarter before Riverside went ahead by four, thanks to back to back three pointers from Overman and Gavin Stone, who had been held scoreless up to that point. Stone's trey gave the Rebels a 52-48 advantage with 3:13 left in the game. BIC got even when DePriest and Cobb combined to drop in four straight free throws, tying the game at 52-all with 1:57 remaining. Stone answered with a seven-foot floater to put the Rebels back on top, 54-52. Hurst hit one of two foul shots with 1:03 showing on the clock to pull BIC to within a single point. Forced to foul, the Mustangs sent Luke Baker to the line, where the senior calmly sank both ends of the one and one, giving the Rebels a 56-53 lead with 21 ticks left on the clock. BIC had one last shot to send the game into overtime. Cobb missed a three point attempt with nine seconds left, but the carom glanced off a Rebel defender, giving the Mustangs second life. BIC inbounded the ball to Hurst, who threw up a desperation three pointer from beyond the top of the key. The ball banked off the glass, went in, came out, and fell back through the goal, sending the game into overtime. BIC jumped on top 61-58 in the extra period, and held a one point edge until Stone buried a three with 1:19 left, giving Riverside the lead for good, 65-63. Grant Mason added a three point play while Sain and Overman sank free throws in the closing seconds to seal the win, as Rebel fans sang Happy Birthday to Campbell while the team celebrated their victory. "We kept getting those mini leads, but we never could put the game away, which has been our MO this year," said Mustang Coach Bill Taylor. "I thought that was where we lost the game. I thought we lost it when we didn't take advantage early. I thought Sain was the difference. We could not keep him off the glass. We didn't do a good job on the triangle part of our defense. We did a good job on Stone and Baker. Hurst did a real good job guarding Stone, but Stone is such a good player and he hit some big shots for Riverside in the fourth quarter and overtime. Asking someone to hold Stone down for 36 minutes is too much to ask, but Dax did his job. We aren't executing at the end of games right now and that's on me." "I am really proud of the kids tonight for fighting back," Campbell said. "They never gave up. Chris Sain had a coming out game tonight. He was outstanding. We've been waiting on this and he really showed up big tonight.This was a huge win. It was a great crowd and a great atmosphere." Sain finished the night with a double-double, scoring 24 points while snaring 13 rebounds. Baker, Stone and Overman all contributed 12 points apiece. Mason scored eight while Jon Milligan added two points.The Rebels hit nine of 12 free throws and drained six three pointers. Cobb scored a game high 28 points for the Mustangs while Depriest and Hurst added 16 points apiece. Carmichael chipped in five points for BIC, who nailed 12-16 charity tosses while drilling nine triples on the night. In junior high action, BIC defeated Riverside 43-36. Kaleb Dublin led the Mustangs with 16 points while Noah Teeter added 15. Blaine Wildy scored five, Kyle Thrasher added four while Taylor Gipson contributed three. D.J. Bowers paced the Rebels with 16 points while Latrell Brown added 12. Steven Stroud scored four while Demo Bowers and Ryan Ausin chipped in two points apiece. Riverside closed the week with another overtime game at Bay, losing to the Yellowjackets 56-52. Bay held a 9-8 edge after the first quarter and stretched their lead to 27-10 before the Rebels rallied to close to within 27-19 at the half. Bay took a 45-38 advantage into the fourth period before Riverside battled back to tie the game 49-49 at the end of regulation. Bay outscored the Rebels 7-3 in the extra period to grab the win. Overman and Mason scored 18 and 10 points respectively to lead the Rebels. Taylor Layne topped Bay with 18 points, Tyler Pritchett scored 17 while Dustin Utley added 12. Bay squeezed past Riverside 41-39 in the junior high contest. Riverside returns to action Tuesday night when they travel to Rector before closing the week hosting Earle Friday night at Lake City. BIC finished their week with a pair of 2A-3 conference victories. The Mustangs defeated Crowley's Ridge Academy 77-48 Friday night at Paragould before slipping past Cross County 46-42 Saturday at Cherry Valley. Cobb pumped in 23 points while Hurst added 21 to lead BIC past CRA. Canon Walling chipped in 12 points. The Mustangs won the junior high game 56-24 behind Wildy's 19 points. Depriest scored 20 points in BIC's win over Cross County. The Mustangs defeated the Thunderbirds 35-28 in the junior high matchup. BIC (13-8, 7-4 2A-3) returns to action Tuesday night, hosting Cross County, before closing the week against East Poinsett County Friday night at Monette.

Caraway resident Kenny Weathers expressed his appreciation to two local state representatives, Dan Sullivan, District 53, and Dave Wallace, District 54, for their efforts in getting the tunnels at Rivervale Bridge cleaned out. The tunnels, built in 1924, have two waterways flowing, Floodway and Buffalo. The unique tunnels allow the Buffalo Ditch to flow under the Floodway...

Caraway Mayor Barry Riley gave the State of the City address at the Jan. 14 meeting. During 2015 the city leased the Basler building to Crop Production for $1,000 a month. Riley said he was proud to announce the city had paid off the sewer/waste water treatment plant 24 years early...

Christie Ruhter is the new administrator at Manila Nursing Center and is looking forward to a good year. A native of Cabot, she started working in long term care at the age of 18. She worked as a CNA and attended nursing school earning a nursing degree. She worked as a floor nurse for six years and accepted a position of nursing manager at Beebe in 2014...

Buffalo Island Central School District has new facilities in the future due to the voters approval of a 7 mill increase. The millage proposal passed by 61 percent of the votes, 669-434. Plans are to construct a new building to house kindergarten through sixth grade in Leachville and a new building for seventh through 12th grade in Monette. The construction will be on the existing campuses...

Walker Park geese are shown walking on the park's pond, Tuesday, in this video submitted by Blytheville assistant police Ricky Jefferson...

According to Main Street director Tucker Nunn, the possibility exists that his position will be phased out by the Main Street board at the end of March, if fundraising goals for the organization are not met. Nunn said that his contract was renewed in January through the end of March, but that a certain amount of money must be raised in that amount of time for it to be extended further. If the position is shut down, the city would no longer be Main Street affiliated...

Mr. Vaughn Acton Jerome, 70, died January 18, 2016 at his home in Blytheville. Born April 23, 1945 in Blytheville, he was the son of Dr. Newell G. Jerome and Margaret Jane Acton Jerome. He attended the Blytheville Schools, graduating in 1963. He was an Eagle Scout...

Jesilene Burton, age 101, of Blytheville, passed away Monday, January 18, 2016 at Great River Medical Center in Blytheville. Arrangements are incomplete and we be announced at a later time. Cobb Funeral Home is in charge of the arrangements.

Mrs. Earnestine Harris, 86, of Blytheville died Saturday, January 16, 2016 at the Great River Medical Center in Blytheville. Born November 12, 1929 in Tunica, Miss. to the late William Woods and the late Irene Hunt Woods, she was a retired home health aide and of the Jehovah's Witness faith...

Ms. Kerrie Leigh Wood, 49, of Brookland and formerly of Osceola, died Friday, January 15, 2016 in Brookland. Born July 11, 1966 in Osceola to Clifford Wood of Brookland and the late Bertha LaRue Wood, she was a homemaker. She leaves her son, Chase Wilkey of Marion; and...