Chicks play No. 19 Jonesboro tough in loss

For much of the night, the Blytheville Chickasaws stayed within striking distance of nation's 19th-ranked Jonesboro Hurricane Tuesday night, but the visitors pulled away to a 61-44 win at a packed Chickasaw Gym.

Battling in a conference game for the first time since 2003, when JHS moved up to 6A, the longtime rivals put on a show at the Big Tepee.

Ranked second in the state, Jonesboro (17-0, 9-0 6A/5A-East) remained undefeated and snapped Blytheville's seven-game winning streak.

Much of the attention had been on Jonesboro's two future Division I guards -- Arkansas Razorback commit Desi Sills and Arkansas State signee Marquis Eaton.

The Chicks held Sills to just four points and limited Eaton to 11.

However, the Chicks had trouble guarding 6-foot-5 senior guard Ben Harvey, who scored a game-high 22.

Harvey scored Jonesboro's first 17 points of the game, including all 13 of the Hurricane's first quarter points.

Though Blytheville didn't had a field goal until 1:10 into the second quarter, the Chicks kept it close at the foul line, trailing just 13-7 going into the second period.

Blytheville (11-7, 5-4 6A/5A-East) got its first bucket of the game when Tydarius Pope knifed through the lane and dropped in two points to trim the lead to 15-9. Then, AJ love drove through the lane to cut it to four.

The Chicks got as close as three, but Jonesboro pulled out to a 33-23 lead at halftime.

Blytheville senior standout Josh Richardson kept the Chicks in the game in the third quarter, scoring 13 of his team-high 20 in the period.

The Chicks trailed by 15 at one point in the third, but Richardson's old-fashion three-point play with 1:34 showing sliced the lead to 49-40.

That was his last points of the game, however, and the Chicks were down 51-40 going into the fourth quarter.

Sills missed the final 11 minutes of the game after being fouled midway through the third quarter.

The Hurricane still managed to keep a double-digit lead the entire fourth quarter, using a 6-0 run to enjoy a 17-point advantage with four minutes to play.

Behind Richardson, Love finished with seven, Tony Newmy and Tremaine Jamison six apiece, Pope three and Winston Peace two in the loss.

Tony Hutson and Jonathan Adams added 11 each for Jonesboro.

The Chicks will travel to Valley View Friday night for another conference matchup.

Jonesboro 54, Lady Chicks 40

The Lady Chickasaws fell to Jonesboro, 54-40.

Blytheville's Alindavia Lockett drives against Jonesboro on Tuesday night. (Gregory French/Courier News)

Blytheville (2-14, 1-8) trailed 19-9 at the end of the first quarter, but trimmed the deficit to 28-21 at halftime. They were down 40-32 going into the final period.

Alindavia Lockett led Blytheville with 12 points. Rakiyah Jones added seven, Timya Rogers six, Shynecia Hughes five, Laurissa Campbell four and Terika Dillard and Kaitlyn Thomas two apiece in the loss.

Destiny Salary led Jonesboro with 20.