The St. Aloysius Lady Flashes kept Central Hinds within striking distance for a long time Tuesday night.

The problem was, they never were able to strike.

The Lady Flashes didn’t score a point in the second quarter and only made two baskets in the third. By the time their shots started to fall at even a moderate clip Central Hinds had pulled away and was on its way to a comfortable 54-28 victory.

“We just couldn’t get a rhythm. It happens to everybody. Sometimes it’s like that. That’s the way basketball is,” St. Al coach Gary Post said. “The only things you can really count on is defense and rebounding. Even with passing and ballhandling and turnovers, it’s a matter of rhythm and when your rhythm is off your rhythm is off.”

Michelle Howington led St. Al with eight points, all in the second half, and four rebounds. Brooklyn Breithaupt was the next-highest scorer, with only five points.

Taylor Gagneaux led Central Hinds with 15 points and Kelli Carmichael scored eight.

St. Al committed 27 turnovers which, when combined with the bad shooting, negated a solid defensive effort that kept the game fairly close for about three quarters.

Howington hit a 3-pointer that pulled St. Al within eight points, at 23-15, with three minutes left in the third quarter. The Lady Flashes didn’t score again in the period, however, and Central Hinds ripped off nine straight points before the buzzer to take a 17-point advantage into the fourth quarter.

Central Hinds led by as many as 26 late in the game.

St. Al had made a similar push early on. After falling behind by 10 points midway through the first quarter, it finished a 7-0 run with Elise Piazza’s 3-pointer at the buzzer to make it 12-9.

The Lady Flashes didn’t score again until Breithaupt hit a 3-pointer with 5:16 left in the third quarter.

“We played, I felt like, pretty good defense the first half. Unfortunately, we let the shooting affect us mentally and we had a little breakdown,” Post said. “They played hard. Hopefully they won’t give up. We’ll come to practice tomorrow and dust ourselves off and practice to get ready for Hartfield on Thursday and hopefully shake it off.”

In the boys’ game, Central Hinds beat St. Al 80-32.