Little went well for the St. Aloysius Lady Flashes until the final minute of their contest with visiting Pelahatchie.

Despite 27 turnovers and poor shooting, St. Al made enough plays in the final minute to pull out a 40-37 win Tuesday night in a Region 7-1A contest.

Senior Sara Burrell hit the eventual winning basket with 11.4 seconds left and Sarah Kerut added a pair of clinching free throws to lift St. Al, now 11-11 overall and 6-4 in the region.

“This was a good win for us,” St. Al coach Drew McBrayer said. “It puts us alone in third place in the region going into Thursday’s game at Enterprise.

“We didn’t play that well. It seemed like we were throwing the ball around everywhere. But being able to win even when we didn’t play very good is great.”

After leading throughout the first 21 minutes, St. Al’s turnover problems caught up to it as Pelahatchie (7-13, 3-6) reeled off seven straight points to take its first lead, 26-24.

St. Al began the fourth down 28-24, but quickly tied it at 28-28 following a basket by Kerut and two free throws from Laura Weeks.

Pelahatchie then took advantage of a pass thrown right to Melody Johnson for a layup to go up 33-30.

Kerut put St. Al back up one at 34-33 with 1:33 to go. Brickey Proctor answered for Pelahatchie with two free throws to make it 35-34.

Two free throws by Weeks at the 1:02 mark put St. Al in front only to see Allison Boyd drive the length of the floor to put Pelahatchie ahead for the final time at 37-36 with 26 seconds left.

Facing a full-court press, St. Al made four passes, finally getting the ball to a wide-open Burrell right off the block. Burrell made the basket with 11.4 left to make it 38-37.

The Lady Chiefs then made their 28th turnover of the game when Boyd dribbled the ball off her foot with 4.6 seconds left. St. Al inbounded to Kerut who was fouled. She made both foul shots to account for the final.

“It seemed like everybody on our team touched the ball on that basket to Sara,” Weeks said.

Kerut finished with a game-high 20 points. She made four, three-pointers and had six rebounds.

(B) Pelahatchie 78, St. Al 63

St. Al blew a 19-point, first-half lead to fall to Pelahatchie.

The Flashes (6-16, 4-6) took a 33-14 lead early in the second quarter following a red-hot start from Chris Johnson who scored 16 points in the opening quarter.

Pelahatchie (8-11, 6-3) stormed back behind 6-5 post Joseph Thompson who scored 14 points in the second quarter to bring the Chiefs to within four at 36-32 at halftime.

(B) PCA 54,, Tri-County 29

Porters Chapel (12-11) won its opening game in the District 4-A Tournament at Sharkey-Issaquena Academy in Rolling Fork Tuesday night.

The Eagles ripped Tri-County 54-29 behind 22 points from Allen Cassell. Hayden Hales added 17 and Dan Ivey had nine.

PCA used an 11-3 second quarter to break away from a 16-14 game. They blew the game open in the fourth quarter outscoring Tri-County 17-3 in the final quarter.

The Eagles will next face CM&I on Friday night in the semifinals.