[1/18/03]Break up the Lady Flashes.

St. Aloysius won consecutive games for the first time this season Friday night, holding Natchez Cathedral to just eight field goals in the entire game in a 33-20 win.

“It’s something different for me,” said a chuckling St. Al coach Paul Hayden, whose team improved to 3-15 and 2-4 in Division 7-1A. “It’s great. They deserve it. They’re playing great team basketball right now.”

Sarah Kerut led the way for St. Al with eight points and seven steals. Laura Beth Lyons also had eight points, while Caitlin Moak had seven points and nine rebounds and Laura Weeks had seven steals.

Mattie Smith led Cathedral (1-12, 0-4) with nine points and nine rebounds.

The teams had nearly as many turnovers (52) as points (53), but the fans cheered loudly for the archrivals throughout the game.

Cathedral led 10-9 midway through the second quarter before St. Al closed the half with a 7-1 run to take a 16-11 lead into the break. Another 6-1 run early in the third quarter pushed St. Al’s lead to 24-14, and the Lady Flashes never led by fewer than nine points again.

During a 15-minute span over the second, third and fourth quarters, Cathedral made only one basket.

“It was just an average game for us,” Cathedral coach Peter Arnold said. “We’ve really struggled offensively. Twenty points isn’t going to win many games.”

(B) St. Al 59, Cathedral 45

St. Aloysius used a 13-2 run just before halftime to blow the game open against Cathedral, and never led by fewer than 14 points in the second half.

Kyle Richards led St. Al with 15 points and five blocked shots, Drew Mazzanti had 13 points and four blocked shots, Alan Ebersole had 10 points and Anthony Rector had seven assists and four steals.

Eric Lee had 13 points and Jonathan Jackson had 12 for Cathedral (3-7, 1-2), which suited up only six players because of illness.

St. Al held Cathedral to 35 percent shooting and forced 29 turnovers. The Flashes, meanwhile, shot 50 percent from the floor, blocked 12 shots and came up with 15 steals.

“They came short-handed, but we came ready to play,” Hayden said. “Twenty-two, our half-court defense, worked really well for us.”

(B) Briarfield 73-64,

Tallulah Academy 45-61

Briarfield’s Clay Morgan hit a half-court shot at the buzzer to force overtime, and the Rebels knocked off Tallulah Academy 64-61 to complete a sweep in a rare basketball doubleheader.

The teams had canceled a December meeting because Briarfield had several players involved in the MPSA all-star football game. They were forced to play the doubleheader Friday because there were no more available dates to make up the conference game.

Phillip Tomlinson led Briarfield with 28 points in the nightcap, and Jonathan Jones had 14. Brad Gustafson had 20 points for Tallulah (1-14, 1-8 Conference 5-A), Preston Walker added 16 points and Cade Marsh had 14.

In the first game, Briarfield outscored the Trojans 24-4 in the second quarter and rolled to a 73-45 victory.

The Gators can still earn a playoff berth if Clinton beats Warren Central on Tuesday night. Should Warren Central win, a tiebreaker would have to be used.

“We play Pearl that night, so all we can do is play our game and come back and see how Warren Central did,” Kennedy said. “If this same Clinton team shows up, I think Warren Central will have its hands full.”

David McLaurin scored three goals, while Jeremy Stringer scored two, and Oma Adaa and Matt Fulton each scored one in the win.

Matt Minyard scored one of the two Vicksburg goals late in the game. The Gators’ first score came when Clinton’s Michael Brown, a Stanford University recruit, headed a ball into the Arrows’ goal.

“We knew they were playing for a district title tonight and had a lot of excitement,” said Clinton coach Jeff Long, a former Warren Central girls soccer coach. “We wanted to get a goal early to let them know that we were here.”

The Arrows led 3-1 at the half and could have made it worse early in the second, but Brown’s penalty shot hit the post and bounced wide five minutes into the second half.

Clinton added four goals in the second half.

Vicksburg players and coaches complained vehemently over a pair of apparent takedowns in the Clinton box. No penalties were called, but four yellow cards were handed out two each to Vicksburg and Clinton.

Vicksburg attempted only three shots on the night, with Minyard’s finding the back of the next 27 minutes into the second half. Clinton outshot VHS, 21-3.

(B) WC 4, Ruston, La. 1

Greg Carroll and Dusty Pennington each scored a pair of goals to lead Warren Central to the victory.

The Vikings (8-6-1) got a pair of assists from Allen Carlisle and one from A.J. Barnes as they held a 2-0 lead at halftime.

WC will travel to Madison-St. Joseph on Saturday.