St. Aloysius’ Kyle Richards, right, keeps Enterprise’s Billy Reeve from getting off a shot during the Flashes’ 47-46 win on Tuesday. Alan Ebersole, left, looks on.

(C. Todd ShermanThe Vicksburg Post)

[1/15/03]Paul Hayden hasn’t had a lot of reasons to smile this season, but after St. Aloysius’ games against Enterprise Tuesday night he was beaming.

Sarah Kerut had 11 points as the Lady Flashes won for only the second time this season, 32-29. In the boys’ game, St. Al blew a 14-point lead in the second half but recovered in time to beat the Yellowjackets 47-46.

“We want to be successful, and I think we have the talent to be there,” Hayden said.

“Hopefully with this win we’re going in the right direction to be the team that I know we can.”

The Lady Flashes (2-13, 1-4 Division 7-1A) took a 30-22 lead with about 2 1/2 minutes to play on Kerut’s 3-pointer, then watched as Enterprise (5-12, 1-3) mounted a comeback.

Erin Johnson hit a 3-pointer with 1:23 to play and Ashley Palomerez knocked down a short jumper with just under a minute left to bring Enterprise within three, 30-27.

Three points was as close as the Lady Jackets could get, however. Laura Beth Lyons came up with a steal and passed to Laura Weeks for an easy fast-break layup to make it 32-27, and Enterprise didn’t score again until Johnson hit a jumper with 6.6 seconds to play.

Enterprise still had fouls to give, and St. Al was able to finish out the game with three inbounds passes, running the final seconds off the clock.

St. Al plays at Cathedral on Friday at 6 p.m.

(B) St. Al 47, Enterprise 46

Enterprise took advantage of St. Al’s second-half shooting slump to take a late lead, but missed two shots in the lane in the closing seconds that would have won the game.

St. Al came up with 10 steals in the first half and held Enterprise (1-16, 0-4) to just 5-for-15 shooting from the field while building a 28-16 lead.

The Flashes led by as many as 14 points in the second half before their shooting went cold and the Yellowjackets got back in it.

As St. Al made just 4 of its first 16 shots in the second half, Enterprise used a series of St. Al turnovers to cut the deficit to 32-29.

“We talked at halftime that we wanted to get it to six points by the end of the third quarter, and that would give us a chance to win it in the fourth,” Enterprise coach Billy Vaughn said.

Drew Mazzanti broke the run with a 3-pointer late in the third quarter, but the Yellowjackets continued to creep back into the game. They narrowed the lead to one point on three separate occasions before finally tying the game at 42-42 on a 3-pointer by Chris Porter with 2:40 to play.

The teams traded leads until Andy Gough’s steal and layup gave the Flashes a 47-46 lead. Enterprise had several chances to win the game, but came up short each time.

“I really didn’t want (Porter) to have the ball again,” Hayden said. “He’s a very good ballplayer, not just scoring but getting his teammates involved too.”

Mazzanti led St. Al (4-11, 2-3) with 11 points, and Richards and Jason Brown each had 10 points.