[12/23/02]St. Aloysius coach Paul Hayden has a simple mantra for his team as they enter the first Wesson Invitational on Friday four quarters.

St. Al (2-8) has been hampered throughout the early part of the season by letdowns in at least one quarter of play, as was seen in a loss to Forest, La., where the Flashes outscored their opponent 49-46 over three quarters but were outscored 26-12 in the second quarter of a 72-61 loss.

“We haven’t played anyone easy, but it’s good to play tougher competition,” Hayden said. “And we could have been in any number of games if we had played four quarters.

“We just haven’t played four quarters yet.”

If the Flashes can latch on to a winning streak in the Wesson Invitational, they should have plenty of opportunity to work on the repetition of four quarters of play and could set up a rematch in the second round with Loyd Star, a team that has beaten them twice this season.

But St. Al doesn’t have the luxury of overlooking anyone, and first-round opponent Enterprise will have no qualms about working the Flashes for the entire 32 minutes of the opening-round game.

“They were loaded last year, but they’re not as strong as they have been,” Hayden said. “But again, not being as strong as they have been, they got some good athletes down there.”

The Lady Flashes (1-9) are looking to pay host Wesson back for a last second buzzer-beater loss they suffered last year, and with Wesson’s coaching merry-go-round three coaches in as many years Hayden is confident his team has found an opponent it can beat.

“I think they are definitely somebody we can play with, they are a young team,” Hayden said. “It should be a good game for us.

“Everytime you win is a confidence booster for us, especially if you have only one win.”

(More…)