After eight straight years of near-misses and disappointing finishes, St. Aloysius is finally headed back to the playoffs.

The Lady Flashes overcame some early adversity and a talented Mississippi School for the Deaf squad at home Tuesday night to clinch a spot in the Class 1A Tournament with a 49-38 win in the first round of the Division 7-1A Tournament.

“It feels good. I’m proud of them. It was all them,” St. Al coach Delvin Thompson said. “They decided to come in tonight and work. We started off kind of slow in the first quarter, but we picked it up in the second quarter. It’s all on them.”

The Lady Flashes fell behind early after a MSD run opened the game on a 10-2 run, but Thompson’s group clawed back into the contest to bring the deficit within 11-7 at the end of the first quarter.

St. Al finally went up early in the second quarter when Avery Parman scored, jumped in front of an errant MSD pass for the steal, and laid in the gift — all in the span of 28 seconds — to push the Lady Flashes ahead 15-13. Parman ended the night with a game-high 19 points.

“Avery stepped up. She stepped up to be a leader,” Thompson said. “Her communication, just talking helps a lot. She stepped up a lot.”

Parman’s spark helped St. Aloysius collect a 24-13 halftime lead, which it extended to 30-13 after a 6-0 run to open the second half.

But the Bulldogs scratched their way back into the contest with quick transition buckets and long passes to mount a 10-0 run of their own to cut the Lady Flashes’ lead to seven. One timeout and regroup later, however, and St. Al went back to its dominant ways to wrap up the easy victory and snag a spot in the Class 1A playoffs.

“We started off slow and it’s something we cannot do. It has a lot to do with being focused,” Thompson said. “It shouldn’t take a whole quarter for us to get focused on the game. We’ve gotten off to a couple of slow starts this year, but overall, we’ve got enough momentum to overcome that.”

Claire Gamble finished with 13 points, while Michelle Howington scored five for St. Al, which next faces No. 1 seed Pelahatchie Thursday at 7 p.m. in the semifinals. A win will guarantee the Lady Flashes a home game in the state tournament, although they’ll advance regardless since the top four teams move on. The consolation and championship games for the division tournament are on Friday.

“I’m proud of them. They worked,” Thompson said. “It’s a great feeling. We’re in the playoffs now, so we can build off this week and prepare for the next game.”

Division 7-1A Tournament

At St. Aloysius High School

Girls

Tuesday

St. Aloysius 49, MSD 38

Cathedral 70, Piney Woods 9

Thursday

Bogue Chitto vs. Cathedral, 4 p.m.

St. Aloysius vs. Pelahatchie, 7 p.m.

Boys

Tuesday

Bogue Chitto 61, MSD 43

Thursday

Pelahatchie vs. Bogue Chitto, 5:30 p.m.

St. Aloysius vs. Cathedral, 8:30 p.m.