Huge crowd sent home unhappy as Cardinals defeated

It was a standing room only crowd on Friday night at E.D. White’s basketball gymnasium.

Cardinal fans showed up in droves with most sporting white attire as a part of a “white out” organized by the school.

People filled the gymnasiums’ seats, sending the rest of the crowd to the stage. When the stage was full, the leftovers were sent to the nearby room where the game was broadcast on television screens.

“The crowd was just crazy,” said Cardinals senior Trey Gaidry. “It’s something you dream about as a player. You think about playing in front of a crowd like that and you talk about it every day with your friends. It was incredible.”

But despite the massive home gathering, the visiting Abbeville Wildcats spoiled the party and clinched a ticket to Lafayette, dominating the home-standing Cardinals en route to a 70-39 victory in the quarterfinals round of the 3A state playoffs.

The loss ends E.D. White’s season with a 25-6 record – a record that Cardinals coach Kyle Lasseigne said better defines his team that the 31-point loss they endured to end their season.

“This is a team that probably had the highest expectations on them in E.D. White history,” Lasseigne said. “We raised the bar really high and we set the bar really high. And we made it in my opinion.”

Friday’s game started on the right foot for the Cardinals as a monster dunk in the opening minutes by sophomore Ja’Dante Frye sent the crowd into an early frenzy.

But the crowd didn’t have many other opportunities to celebrate as the Wildcats controlled the tempo to take a 33-21 halftime lead, then used a 13-2 run to start the third quarter to put the Cardinals away for good.

Senior Josh Jennings said the Cardinals did not practice well during the week, but also noted the team had done that other times throughout the season and rebounded in their upcoming game.

“We actually thought that was a good thing,” he said. “We thought we’d get that stuff out of our system and be fine today … We needed to play a perfect game to beat those guys, because they’re a good team, but they just didn’t miss a shot. It was everything we didn’t want.”

With the outcome of the game decided for the majority of the fourth quarter, Lasseigne took out all of his starters one-by-one to allow them to get a standing ovation from the crowd and from their teammates.

Lasseigne said as each player walked off the floor he thanked them for the effort they gave to the team throughout the season and in their careers.

“I needed to thank them all for giving me the opportunity to be their coach,” Lasseigne said. “I really felt very fortunate as a coach to have a team like I did this year. We challenged them this year, because we believed we could be really good and they were fabulous all season.”

The loss marks the end of the prep careers of eight E.D. White seniors.

And even though their prep careers didn’t end the way the team planned, Lasseigne said he will never forget this senior class.

“We went 25-6 …, finished 9-1 in district and made it to the quarterfinals for just the third time in school history. This is one of the best teams ever at this school,” Lasseigne said. “And they have nothing to be ashamed of. Absolutely nothing.”

Elsewhere in the Tri-parish area:

The Cardinals were one of two Tri-parish teams to fall in the quarterfinal round as Ellender was defeated 76-62 by the No. 2 seed Bossier in the 4A state quarterfinals.

The Patriots went back and forth with Bossier throughout the opening half of the game, but lost steam in the second half, allowing the Bearkats to pull away and clinch a berth in the Cajundome.

The loss ends the team’s season with a 33-6 record.

The Patriots won the district championship this year and will say goodbye to six seniors on their roster.