Basketball Family: Season opener had new meaning for LCA’s Errol Rogers and his daughter Erin of Northside
by William Weathers // GeauxPreps.com Contributor
LAFAYETTE – The scoreboard cast the deciding vote in Lafayette Christian Academy’s victory over Northside 57-43 in Tuesday’s season opener for both teams.
The teams, located four miles apart, battled for four quarters, delivered highlight-reel plays, picked each other up off the floor and shook hands afterward in a terrific show of sportsmanship.
The coaches? They enjoyed an extended warm embrace, the kind reserved for a family reunion.
That’s because they are family when veteran coach Errol Rogers, who’s built a dynasty with nine state championships at LCA, took on the challenge of his 26-year-old daughter Erin, a former LCA player and coach, making her head coaching debut for the Lady Vikings.
“I think Erin’s got a chance to do some great things with them,” Errol said beforehand.
This was the 709th game of Errol Rogers’ career, whose 546-163 record is a testament to his job of developing LCA into a statewide power in his 12 previous seasons. His coaching resume also includes 15 years as a college assistant at Bethune-Cookman, Mississippi State and UL.
Erin was privy to her father’s blueprint for success, having played for him for five seasons and helped the Lady Knights win their first state title in 2017 during her junior season. A year after returning from Houston, where she worked for an aunt, Errol hired Erin as an assistant for one season before she joined the staff at Northside last season.
When head coach Amanda Clemens left after last season’s 13-14 record, Northside looked down its bench and hired Erin to become the program’s new head coach, escalating the start of her career.
“It was much quicker than I expected,” she said. “I’m thinking I’ll be an assistant for a couple of years and just learn, and this all happened.”
LCA won its last 24 games last season and claimed its fifth consecutive state championship – a combination of Division II and III – and returned four starters led by Nicholls State signee Kaliyah Samuels, a selection on the Class 2A All-State team.
Northside hadn’t enjoyed a winning season in three years, and it’s been two seasons since the Lady Vikings won a playoff game, running into LCA in the state quarterfinals.
“When I started, everybody thinks we just started out and we were so great at LCA,” Erin said. “We started from the bottom, and we had to build that program up. When I first started, none of us were naturally great athletes, but I have that here. I’m trying to get them to understand what it takes to get to that level that we’re trying to get to eventually, and that’s the Top 28.”
When Errol found out that LCA and Northside were already scheduled to play in this season’s opener, he tactfully looked for other options. He wanted to support his daughter’s endeavours and watch her get her career off to a successful start.
When he brought up the subject of not playing, Erin objected.
“When she took the job and the game had already been scheduled, I tried to get out of the game,” he said. ‘She asked me if I was scared, and I said no. I told her I wanted her to be successful, not saying that I was going to beat her. The good thing is that I got to watch my own daughter coach her first game.
“I believe she’s doing a good job; the kids are buying in,” he said. “She’s got the kids believing. She’s got the community believing in her.”
Erin believed a game against LCA would have far-reaching effects that would benefit her team.
“It’s extremely important,” she said. “I knew that we had the talent. He said, as your dad, he wanted to see me win my first game. I knew we can compete, so that’s why I wanted to keep the game.”
Errol’s first bit of coaching advice upon learning of Erin’s new role for the 2025-26 season?
“Everybody’s going to act like they’re your friends,” he said. “Things change quickly when you move to that (head coach’s) chair. Don’t read newspapers. Don’t go online. Regardless of what you do, people are going to say negative things. Just do what you do and don’t worry about the outside forces you may hear from.”
Erin was part of the climb in which LCA exploded. The Lady Knights had been knocked out in the second round in consecutive seasons until breaking through in ’17 with a 56-46 victory over top-seeded Houma Christian for the Division IV state title.
With the roles reversed the following season and the Lady Knights holding the division’s top seed, they went back-to-back against Houma Christian, 38-29.
Erin said she played more of a defensive role during her senior season before going to UL where she was a manager for the track team and obtained her degree in 2022.
“I’ve always loved basketball and wanted to coach, but never knew when I was going to get started,” she started. “I knew one day if I was going to coach, I needed to get into the school system.”
After college, Erin worked in Houston, helping run one of the businesses in her aunt’s medical supply company. She yearned for the chance to coach, returning to her hometown in Lafayette, but didn’t immediately find an open position until joining her father’s staff and was part of the fourth of five straight state titles, a 55-46 win over St. Louis Catholic in the Division II select final.
Coaching roots within the Rogers family have also spread to his son Errol Jr., a former football player at UL, Liberty and Southeastern Louisiana, who is an assistant football coach at Walker High School. His daughter Danielle is a teacher/coach at Acadiana Renaissance Charter Academy junior high in Youngsville.
“She walked into a gold mine,” said Errol, a father of six and grandfather of seven. “They have some really good athletes. That’s a school with a girls’ basketball team that’s waiting to explode, and they just needed somebody in there to show that they cared a whole lot about them.”
LCA opened play on fire, jumping out to a 10-2 lead in the first three minutes of play with Samuels contributing six points, and took a 17-11 lead after the first quarter.
The Lady Knights threatened to blow the game open midway through the second quarter when point guard Paityn Dean made a hanging jumper in the lane off a turnover, and Shanna Simien fed Samuels for an inside basket and a 23-13 advantage.
“Dean’s a sophomore,” Errol said. “But she’s played in state championship games as an eighth grader and ninth grader. She’s been through all of that. Kaleah has been in four state finals. The whole team is very experienced. They’re a good group of kids. They love each other, and they work hard for each other.”
Northside’s leading scorer, Maria Senegal, had a personal 6-0 run, bringing her team to within 23-19 with 54 seconds before halftime. LCA answered, though, with two free throws from Samuels and a putback from Kenadie Jackson in the last 30 seconds of play.
The Lady Knights, who shot 53.5% for the game and forced 18 turnovers, opened a 32-19 lead on a three-point play from Dean and Samuels’ fastbreak basket.
Northside responded with some of its best minutes of the game. The Lady Vikings narrowed the game to 34-29 behind the play of Alaya Harris, who scored six of her team-high 16 points on a three-point play and a banked-in 3-pointer from the top of the key.
Northside, which shot 54% (6 of 11) in the quarter, reduced the deficit to 38-34 when Raegan Angelle rebounded her own miss with 2:47 left.
LCA then showed its mettle, scoring the last nine points in the last 2:24 for a 47-34 lead heading into the fourth quarter. Dean, who scored 10 of her 14 points in the quarter, sparked her team’s surge with a 3-pointer in which she spun off a screen. Samuels scored four points, and Simien added a basket off an inbounds pass and a free throw.
“I notice that happens a lot in their games when you watch them,” Erin said of LCA. “They get their lead cut, and then they pick it up. I told them not to get discouraged or step back. I told them if they’re going to pick it up, we have to pick it up, too.”
LCA’s run overlapped with the start of the fourth quarter, reaching 13-0 over a four-minute stretch, when Logan Boutte scored on an up-and-under move in the lane, and Samuels remained tough in the paint with a third opportunity that went through the basket with 6:39 remaining.
Samuels topped the three double-figure scorers for the Lady Knights with 19 points. Dean added 14 and Boutte 11.
“Any of our five starters can have double figures,” Errol said. “They’re all very unselfish. They all can handle the ball, so I like what we have. We just can’t get in foul trouble. Being the first game and having jitters, I thought we made some stupid mistakes. We fought through everything, and we were able to win.”
Skylin Joseph’s drive with 5:39 to go finally stopped LCA’s run until Simien, another returning starter, scored on consecutive drives – the last coming off a turnover – to push her team’s lead to 57-38 – when Errol Rogers emptied his bench.
Harris’ team-high total included three 3-pointers, and Senegal had 10 of her 12 points in the first half. The Lady Vikings were limited to 38% shooting (10 of 26) in the second half.
“I thought we fought hard,” Erin said. “I tried to tell the girls that this is a state championship team that’s won nine of the last 10 state championships and five consecutive. We put up a fight. We got down in the fourth quarter, but I’m trying to teach them to stop worrying about the scoreboard and just play the game. They don’t realise how good they played. I told them as long as we keep playing like this, we’ll be in a good position.”
That’s a point Errol tried to drive home when he asked his daughter to speak to her team.
“This is one of the best Northside team I’ve played against,” he told them. “That’s not because I’m saying that because she’s my daughter. Don’t let this one game define you. Ya’ll have a very good team, and I know you didn’t have your best player (Kayla Fox, who was out with the flu), but when you look back at everything, you’ve got 30-something games left. Just go win those games, and if everything goes right and y’all keep your head, y’all should be playing in Hammond (site of state championship) in March.”
The spirited game, which drew a larger-than-usual crowd for an opener, featured a father and daughter who stood up for the majority of the game, urging their respective teams on. During timeouts, they were active in their huddles with in-game adjustments and supplying positive words of encouragement.
“I’ve always rooted for him,” Erin said. “Now I’m on the other side.”
At the end, with a handful of family on hand, the Rogers were still family and wished each other well.
“I almost had tears in my eyes at the end of the game,” Errol said. “I had to hold that back. I’m glad it’s over with and we can move on.”