After a sloppy, turnover-filled performance in their season debut Tuesday night, it’s easy to see that there are better days ahead for the St. Aloysius Flashes – not that this one was all that bad.

Chase Smith scored 10 of his game-high 25 points in the third quarter, and added 13 rebounds and five assists to lead the Flashes to a 59-46 win over Loyd Star (2-1).

Chip Donald added 13 points for St. Al, which committed 29 turnovers, but made up for it by shooting 61.5 percent from the field. It also held Loyd Star to 10 points combined in the second and third quarters and 27.8 percent shooting in that span.

Glen Thomas led Loyd Star with 19 points and Matthew Henderson scored 16.

&#8220You can’t win if you can’t make a shot,” Loyd Star coach Gene Britt said. &#8220We didn’t play very good tonight and we got what we deserved – a good old whupping.”

Loyd Star used a full-court press to jump out to a 15-7 lead five minutes into the game, but it didn’t last. St. Al closed the first period with an 8-2 run to pull within a basket, and took a 24-23 lead into halftime.

After that, Smith took over.

Finding gaping holes in Loyd Star’s defense, he vigourously attacked the hoop and gave the Flashes a commanding lead with a strong third quarter. Smith scored 10 points and grabbed five rebounds in the period, helping St. Al to a 39-27 lead.

Even when the Hornets did guard him, Smith burned them. With about 30 seconds to play in the third, Smith was quadruple-teamed in the high post. He kicked the ball out to a wide-open Chip Donald on the right wing, and Donald drained a 3-pointer to push the lead to double digits for the first time.

&#8220They were running a zone and we couldn’t shoot from the outside,” Smith said. &#8220Luckily, we were able to get inside.”

Loyd Star made a run in the fourth quarter by hitting five 3-pointers. The flurry allowed them to get as close as nine points, but 13 misses from behind the arc led to easy rebounds, transition baskets and layups for St. Al. The Flashes were 7-for-9 from the field in the fourth quarter and were never really in danger of losing their lead.

&#8220We never changed our defense,” said first-year St. Al coach Penn Majors, who won in his debut with the Flashes. &#8220Sometimes, if you’re making less mistakes they get less opportunities on the other end. Some of it is the other team missed shots.”

(G) Loyd Star 50, St. Al 47.

Loyd Star’s Shannon Chester scored four points in a decisive 6-0 run late in the fourth quarter, and finished with 19 points to lead the Lady Hornets (4-0) past St. Al (1-1).

Sarah Kerut led St. Al with 17 points and six steals, and Kayla Childress and Katie Koestler each scored 11 points.

St. Al had a chance to tie the game on its final possession, but failed to get a shot off after inbounding the ball with 9 seconds to play. The Lady Flashes also converted just 8 of 16 free throws, a margin that didn’t help their cause.

&#8220We learn from our mistakes. I made some coaching mistakes and they made some playing mistakes,” first-year St. Al coach Kyt Bonner said.

(G) WC 56, Hazlehurst 54.

Sophomore Sha’Kayla Caples scored a game-high 22 points and Brittany Willis added 15 as the Lady Vikes improved to 3-1 on the season.

The Lady Vikes led 33-29 at halftime and went into the fourth quarter tied. WC converted 8 of 8 free throws in the fourth quarter and went 10-for-10 on the night.

Warren Central is scheduled to host Port Gibson on Thursday at 6 p.m.

Warren Central’s boys were beaten by Hazlehurst 55-49. Individual scoring results were not reported.