LACASSINE — The Lady Cardinals started flying high Monday night and never crashed.

The challenge of scoring early and often against Lacassine overwhelmed the Glenmora Lady Wildcats.

Glenmora (16-5) didn’t score until 97 seconds remained in the first quarter, and Lacassine (20-1) limited the Wildcats to 11 second-half points as the Cardinals earned their 20th win of the season, 55-25.

No Glenmora player reached double figures, just like the Wildcats didn’t score more than nine points in any quarter Monday. Lacassine coach Eddie Michalko said he was pleased his defense never slowed down.

“A lot of times we don’t shoot the ball well, and our defense has to keep us in the game,” Michalko said. “That’s the way it’s been the last few years.”

Michalko said one of their defensive goals was to hold Glenmora’s Destiny Beecham in check. They accomplished that by limiting her to just five points.

“We were not going to let (Beecham) go right,” he said. “We kept her going left and never really allowed her to get into any kind of flow.”

Abbie Melanson led the Cardinals with 18 points, and eighth-grader Mady Brasseaux tallied 13. What Michalko said he likes about the Lady Cardinals this season is the blend of youth and veteran leadership. One of the Lacassine seniors is his daughter Marcie, who scored six points Monday.

“I have a good mixture of a young group that’s talented and an older group that has talent, but they have more experience than anything else,” he said. “Marcie kind of expects me (to be tougher on her). If I didn’t do it, she’d probably go, ‘Dad, what’s wrong?’”

Lacassine stifled Glenmora from the get-go, when Lexie Doga converted a 3-pointer after a steal and assist by Alyson Duplantis. In the third quarter, just like the first quarter, Glenmora didn’t score until 84 seconds remained in the frame when they rattled off six points before the start of the fourth.

While Lacassine miscues didn’t affect the outcome, Michalko said his team needs to play smart to stay together.

“We’ve tried to run a little bit this year so I have to understand we’re going to have a few more turnovers than if we just walked it up the floor,” he said. “I want them to get to the point where they really don’t care who they’re playing, that they just go out and play as hard as they can.”

Lacassine’s Mady Brasseaux looks for an open shot against Glenmora Monday night. (MEREDITH BLINDER / AMERICAN PRESS)