Several minutes after their teammates had left the locker room, two Porter’s Chapel Academy basketball players emerged visibly upset and with tears in their eyes. Seconds later, coach Amanda Yocum followed them out the door.

“They’re OK,” Yocum said, her somber look slowly turning to a grin, “They’re just upset they didn’t score a little more to help out.”

It was a scene that shows just how far the Lady Eagles have come this season.

The team’s turnaround continued Thursday night with a 41-34 win over crosstown rival St. Aloysius. PCA led for most of the game in its sixth victory of the season, to reach a win total that exceeds several multiple-year stretches of the program’s recent history.

Twenty-four of PCA’s 41 points came from the bench.

“Some of our more consistent players that have been scoring for us didn’t hit a lot tonight, but some other girls stepped up really big,” Yocum said. “I felt like it was a very good overall team effort. We had some girls step up that really haven’t scored or been in the game a lot, and I honestly think that was the difference.”

Hannah Embry and Rheagan Smith led PCA (6-12, 1-1 District 3-AAA) with 10 points and Carlye Smith added nine. Grace Upshaw scored a game-high 19 points for St. Al.

PCA held the Lady Flashes without a field goal for the first four minutes of the second quarter to open a 23-15 lead by halftime. The margin grew to as many as 12 points in the second half, but the Lady Eagles still had to sweat it out.

A cold spell in the fourth quarter allowed St. Al to go on an 8-1 run and close to within 37-32 with 2:38 remaining. PCA didn’t hit a field goal until Kaylee Hinson dropped in a layup with 2:08 to go.

St. Al struggled at the free throw line, however, and that allowed the Lady Eagles to hang on. St. Al was just 5-for-9 at the line in the fourth quarter and 14-for-32 in the game.

“I was so proud of their effort, and if we could have made some free throws it might have been a different story on the board,” St. Al coach Eddie Pickle said.