Like just about every high school sports team, the Destrehan girls basketball team set a goal to play for a state championship last year.
It was something the Lady Wildcats had been building towards in their five seasons under coach Angi Butler, who brought a new attitude and a new set of rules to the Destrehan gym in 2010.
Change took time, however.
Her first team finished 16-13, failing to make the playoffs. The 2011 team made the playoffs, but lost in the first round. The 2012 team won the district title, but again lost in the first round of the playoffs. So did the 2013 team.Then came the fairy tale.
Although no one doubted Destrehan’s talent, nor Butler’s all-business coaching style, the Wildcats put together a run that many called magical in 2014. They won 26 straight games, rolling through their District 7-5A schedule for their third straight district title. With a 27-1 regular season record, they earned the No. 6 seed going into the playoffs.
Then, unlike the years before, the Wildcats kept on winning. They beat Haughton by 54, Zachary by 4, No. 3 seed Walker by 3, then Cox by 13. And suddenly, magically, the Wildcats found themselves in the Class 5A championship game against Mount Carmel.
“It was kind of like, wow, look where we are,” Butler said. “Sure, we said we’d go to state like every team does, but then we got into the playoffs and we won one. Then the next one. Then the next one. Then, before we knew it, we were in the championship game.”
And almost before they knew it, the magical clock struck midnight. No. 9 Mount Carmel overwhelmed the Wildcats to take a 69-60 victory and the 2014 state title.
It was the Wildcats’ first ever appearance in the finals and only the school’s fourth appearance in the state tournament. In hindsight, Butler believes her team succumbed to the pressure, and perhaps the exhaustion of their break-neck style of play for so many games.
“Deer in the headlights,” she said. “I think the big game, the big gym, the big crowd. We weren’t ready for it.”But they sure will be this year.
Destrehan enters the playoffs this week as the No. 4 seed with a record of 23-2 and their win streak stretches 11 games. But these Wildcats have something last year’s team didn’t – a mission. They have unfinished business.
“We got a taste of it last year,” Butler said. “We definitely want to go back.”
But this is a different team. Butler is working to continue last year’s success with three seniors, one junior and six sophomores. One of those sophomores is the 5-foot-7 guard Cara Ursin. A freshman phenom last season, Ursin has become the team leader this season. She averages 24 points, nine rebounds, six steals and four assists per game.
Also stepping up this season are sophomores Kiki Kenner and Brandi Mason, another former freshman starter.
“Our strengths are, we’re definitely fast and we’re aggressive” Butler said. “We’re going to fight for the rebound. We’re going to get in the paint when we need to be. We’re going to transition very quickly and we’re pretty consistent. Our weakness is, we don’t have height, we’re down to eight players because of injuries and we don’t have a whole lot off the bench.”
And there have been tests. While the Wildcats absolutely dominated some teams – they beat Terrebonne 108-40 and Central Lafourche 64-2 – a few teams have given them a challenge. Destrehan barely escaped Thibodaux with a 37-30 win on Jan. 13. Last week the Wildcats had to overcome a determined South Lafourche in the regular season finale. Destrehan trailed 40-35 in the third quarter, but rallied for a 23-9 run in the final quarter to win 63-49.
Still, Butler thinks this Destrehan team is just as capable of making a run as last year’s.
“At first I didn’t think we did,” Butler said. “I told the girls early, ‘You’re really going to have to overcome adversity because we don’t have height.’ But what we lack in height, I think we make up for in speed and determination. We really have come out on top. Even though it has been our toughest adjustment, I think that we’ve played better. I think we have to get up and down the floor just a little bit faster.”
By Lori Lyons
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