St. Aloysius center Kyle Richards shoots for two of his game-high 26 points in the Flashes’ 83-51 victory over Enterprise on Monday. Defending are Enterprise’s Corey Smith, left, and Corey Everett. (Jenny SevcikThe Vicksburg Post)

[12/16/03]Nights like Monday are few and far between at St. Aloysius.

Starters turned into cheerleaders early when the Flashes (3-6, 2-0 Division 7-1A) dismantled winless Enterprise, 81-53.

Every member of the team played, and the crowd erupted each time one of the seldom-used players launched up a shot.

Colin Reid’s baseline bankshot drew the starters off the bench and into a tizzy. When freshman Chris Johnson drained a 3-pointer, hitting nothing but net, one would have thought the team won a state title.

Freshman Marsh Willis also hit a 3-pointer late in the game, bringing the crowd to its feet.

“They work just as hard in practice as the seniors do,” said coach Paul Hayden, who was one of the biggest cheerleaders. “They deserve to play. We have a huge team and it was good to give them a chance.”

The reason for the younger players’ success, though, was a tenacious effort by the Flashes that resulted in a 31-point first quarter, a 50-22 halftime lead and the eventual 28-point victory.

Kyle Richards dominated down low, scoring a game-high 26 points. At one point, Richards was 9-for-10 from the field. Anthony Rector poured in 22 points, and Dario Lawrence scored eight.

“That’s the first time we played defense like that,” said Rector, who had eight steals and helped St. Al cause 37 turnovers. “That really got us going.”

The victory, which came one day before exam week, set up a meeting with powerful West Lincoln on Friday.

“There is a rumor that their point guard got hurt,” Hayden said of West Lincoln’s Tyler Smith, the team’s top-scoring player. “That really doesn’t mean anything, though, because they are a quality team.”

Such was not the case for Enterprise (0-12, 0-2). Corey Smith scored 15 points and Corey Everett netted 14 in the loss.

The two Enterprise big men never got started thanks to the Flashes’ big start.

Enterprise scored the first basket, then watched as St. Al went on a 16-0 run to start the rout. Two straight John David Hosemann 3-pointers gave the Flashes a 39-15 lead midway through the second quarter.

St. Al took its biggest lead of the night, 68-37, at the end of the third quarter.

They had plenty of size,” Richards said of Enterprise. But I’m not really sure what they were doing out there.”

(G) St. Al 44, Enterprise 41

Sarah Kerut scored a team-high 12 points and the Lady Flashes (5-4, 2-0) held off a furious Enterprise rally in the fourth quarter for the victory.

The win lifted St. Al over .500 for the first time in two years.

Laura Beth Lyons and Caitlin Moak added nine points each in the win.

St. Al led by 10 heading into the fourth quarter, but Enterprise outscored the Lady Flashes 16-7 to almost pull off the upset.