Led by senior guard Asia Durr’s 25 points, the fifth ranked Louisville Cardinals claimed its seventh victory on the season, defeating the Nebraska Cornhuskers in an 85 – 68 decision.
Along with 25 points, Durr dished out a career high eight assists, five of which came in the fourth quarter.
“She’s special,” Nebraska head coach Amy Williams said of the senior guard. “She’s just a very special player. She makes big plays every time they need big plays. She makes difficult shots, she makes easy shots.”
Despite the large margin of victory, the Cardinals and Cornhuskers were neck and neck for much of the game. At the half, Louisville only held a nine-point advantage.
The Cardinals started to pull away mid way through the third period when Arica Carter knocked down a triple followed by a Sam Fuehring steal and layup. The quick five points forced Nebraska to call a time out to regroup. The Huskers were able to get within eight points, but could not close the gap.
Nebraska head coach Amy Williams credits Louisville’s relentless defense for the inability to come within striking distance.
“It kind of just wears you down,” Coach Williams said. “You can handle it for a while, but eventually you get wore down. They find some chinks in the armor and they find a way to take advantage of that.”
The Louisville defense was able to force 23 turnovers, a stat Coach Williams was not thrilled about.
“It’s not characteristic of our team,” she told the media. “It’s something we have to get better at, but it’s also a credit to the type of defense we saw tonight.”
Despite Coach Williams’ high praise of Louisville’s defense, her former college basketball coach – and current Louisville head coach – Jeff Walz, was not as keen on the Cardinal’s defense.
“Defensively we’ve got some room to continue to improve, which we will,” Coach Walz said.
In particular, he was not pleased with Louisville’s inability to block out, allowing Nebraska to get easy backdoor layups.
However, Coach Walz noted that he would, “rather be sitting here trying to get better on defense than trying to figure out how to score.”
The Cardinals certainly have an excess of scorers. In this matchup, Louisville had four players post double-figures, and another five players record at least one point.
Asia Durr led all scorers with 25 points, while Sam Fuehring added 14 – along with 10 rebounds. Arica Carter tallied 12 points and Bianca Dunham rounded out the double-digit scorers with 11 points. Kylee Shook recorded eight points and a season-high nine rebounds, while Dana Evans and Jazmine Jones each added six points.
Next Up:
The No. 5 Louisville Cardinals remain at home as they face off against Tennessee State at 2PM on Sunday, December 2nd.
