The Destrehan Lady Cats throttled H.L. Bourgeois and knocked off East St. John to start district play with a 2-0 record. The Lady Cats are now 8-1 on the season with their only blemish coming by way of a one-point loss to Cabrini.
Every Destrehan player scored in a 77-20 win over Bourgeois on Friday. Super sophomore Cara Ursin led the team with 15 points despite playing only half a quarter. Destrehan’s domination continued into East St. John on Monday, with the Lady Cats earning a commanding 94-53 win.
Destrehan head coach Angi Butler was pleased with her team’s performance in both district wins.
“They played really well and we ran our press well,” she said. “The shots have been falling better than they were before.”
After losing to Cabrini in the third game of the season, the Lady Cats have rolled over the opposition. They captured the St. Charles Shootout crown after beating Mandeville, John Curtis and Ellender. The team came through with another impressive win against Ponchatoula, winning 73-57. Ursin finished with 39 points in that game and is averaging 25 points per game this season.
Butler called Ursin a once-in-a-lifetime talent.
“She is a huge part of our offense, but she is also one of the most unselfish players I’ve ever seen,” Butler said. “She makes sure everyone gets a chance to put points on the board, which helps our team chemistry.”
Last season, the Lady Cats advanced to the Class 5A state championship game. Butler returns three starters from that team.
“They know they are talented now,” Butler said. “We expect to go back to the final four and winning it all is our ultimate goal. We lost two players from last year, but our girls have stepped up and filled those shoes.”
While Destrehan has only lost one game this season, Butler said her squad is still trying to find their groove.
“One of the things is we are learning how to play without height. Our tallest player is around 5-foot-9, so we are learning to compensate for that and use our speed and agility to our advantage,” Butler said. “Right now our chemistry is good and our teamwork is good, but we are trying to find some consistency.”
Along with consistency, Butler said her squad must also do a better job of scoring off turnovers.
“We are getting down the court OK and getting steals, but we need to turn those into points,” she said. “We struggled with that last year. In the playoffs we won close games by one or two points, now we want to win by 10 or 12 points.”
The Lady Cats will return to action on Jan. 6 when they host Terrebonne. Tip off is scheduled for 6 p.m.
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