Playing its fourth road game in five days, Porters Chapel Academy swatted aside fatigue and injuries as easily as it did the St. Aloysius Flashes.

Kawayne Gaston finished with 21 points and 11 rebounds, Ted Brisco had 20 points and 11 rebounds, and the Eagles completed their grueling week with a throrough 69-19 beating of crosstown rival St. Al at the Red Carpet Classic on Saturday.

PCA won all four games this week to improve its record to 17-2. It is off until the District 5-A tournament begins on Feb. 6, although coach E.J. Creel said she’ll try to add a game or two before then.

The downtime will help a team that has had half of its regular rotation fighting through various minor injuries the past three weeks.

“I’m glad this week is over. We need the rest,” said Creel, whose team played a game in Meridian on Friday night, then took the court again less than 12 hours after getting back home. If they were tired from that trip, though, the Eagles hardly showed it.

PCA never trailed, and led by 20 points at the midway point of the second quarter. Gaston and Brisco not only outscored St. Al by themselves, they almost outrebounded them too. St. Al only pulled down 13 rebounds total, while PCA grabbed 40.

The Flashes also hit just 7 of 39 shots (17.9 percent), committed 22 turnovers and did not score in the fourth quarter. Kameron Reed and Connor Smith led the team with six points apiece.

The end result was St. Al’s eighth consecutive loss by 24 or more points. Four of the last five games have been decided by at least 45 points.

“No effort. You need effort and heart, and we’re playing with none,” St. Al coach Delvin Thompson said. “It’s a lot of not hustling, not getting to loose balls, not flying around.”

Peter Harris added 10 points for PCA, while Talbot Buys had seven points, 10 rebounds and four blocked shots. The Eagles have won their last two RCC meetings with St. Al after losing the first two.

“Of course this is our rival, so we’re going to take it up a notch. We played real hard and didn’t underestimate them. They’re a good team even though they’ve only won one game,” Gaston said. “It feels good. They’re our biggest rival, and you never want to lose to your rival.”

(G) St. Al 64, PCA 34

Ann Garrison Thomas scored 18 points, Allie Willis added 13, and St. Aloysius (7-11) pulled away from a feisty PCA squad to earn its second victory in less than 24 hours.

PCA (0-19), which also played Friday night and was in its fourth game of the week, kept it close until late in the third quarter. A basket by Marshedia Graise cut St. Al’s lead to 37-28 with about 3 minutes to go.

Then the Lady Eagles ran out of gas, and St. Al seized control. The Lady Flashes outscored PCA 27-6 over the last 11 minutes to win easily. PCA only scored two points in the fourth quarter.

Graise led PCA with a game-high 21 points, and Claire Mims scored nine. Alexa Engel added nine points for St. Al and Julie Mabry had eight.

“It was a sloppy first half. Then they picked it up in the second half,” St. Al coach Cookie Johnson said. “(PCA) showed up to play. They played their hearts out. Thank God we had a little more heart.”