The departure of twins Annie and Amy Beaugh has left both a scoring and a leadership void for the St. Aloysius girls basketball program.

The Lady Flashes hope to fill some of those holes by playing in the Central Mississippi Girls Basketball League.

St. Al played Monday night against 5A South State participant Wingfield, one of the Jackson area’s best teams in 2005-06. The results weren’t pretty, especially with the absence of the team’s top returning player in rising senior forward Sarah Kerut.

Assistant coach Holly McBrayer, wife of head St. Al coach Drew McBrayer, says league play will help in finding someone to step up besides Kerut.

&#8220Annie was a big loss, not only as our best scorer, but also as a leader. Sarah’s a great leader, too, but we really need to find another one. We need some others to step up,” McBrayer said.

Annie Beaugh averaged 23 points per game in leading St. Al to a school-record 26-4 season and the Division 7-1A title. She is walking on at Delta State University in the fall.

Amy Beaugh was the team’s point guard and was responsible for getting the Lady Flashes offense untracked. She led the team in assists. Kerut was the team’s second leading scorer at more than 16 points per game. All three players were named to the All-Warren County team.

The Lady Flashes have two other starters back in guard Elizabeth Mazzanti, who moves to the point, and center Bonney Neill.

&#8220Bonney is capable of scoring but she’s got to step-up and become more of a vocal leader and get them to run our offense a little better,” McBrayer said.

Kayla Childress is stepping into Annie Beaugh’s spot and she’ll be counted on to improve as the league season progresses.

Young players like Carley Smith and Sarah Franco showed promise against Wingfield.

&#8220We played too scared in the first half against Wingfield and then after the first few minutes of the second half, I sat the starters down. The last 10 minutes of the half, we started playing hard. Not well, but at least we gave a hard effort,” McBrayer said.

St. Al is one of 13 teams competing in the summer league. Warren Central and Hinds AHS, which advanced to the Class 2A semifinals last year, are the two other local teams.

Jackson Prep, the 2006 MPSA Academy Overall champion, has two teams in the league. Wingfield, Provine, Lanier, Forest Hill and Callaway represent the Jackson Public Schools.

Madison Central, Madison St. Joe, Ridgeland and Jefferson County round out the league.

Teams will play between five to eight games, generally two per week until June 26 when the league tournament begins.

Warren Central will host a three-game set on June 19 with St. Al taking on Jefferson County followed by Jackson Prep I facing Hinds AHS and concluding with Jackson Prep II playing the Lady Vikes.