Earlier today, Louisville Women’s Basketball announced their opener Wednesday at Middle Tennessee had been canceled. There was no official reason given for the cancellation. Coach Jeff Walz put out a tweet asking any program willing to play on Wednesday.
Game at MTSU cancelled for Wednesday, Nov. 25. Louisville willing to travel, if you have an opening for 25th. DM or call me and let’s make it happen. #goingtobeonehellofayear
— Jeff Walz (@CoachJeffWalz) November 23, 2020
It turns out that a school was willing to answer the call. It was just announced that the Cards new opening opponent will be Southeast Missouri State. The Cards will travel to Cape Giradeau, MO to battle the Redhawks on Wednesday afternoon. The tip is set for 3 pm.
Southeast Missouri State is a team out of the Ohio Valley Conference. They will be led by a backcourt tandem of senior guard Tesia Thompson and junior guard Taelor Pruitt.
Thompson averaged 19.7 points and 7.7 rebounds per game for the Redhawks last season. Meanwhile, Pruitt averaged 9.6 points and 2.8 rebounds. She also averaged 3.6 assists per game in 31 games, 30 of which she started. That gave her the team lead in assists.
Louisville enters the season ranked 5th in the country and is expected to be a Final Four contender. They are led by senior guard Dana Evans and junior guard/forward Elizabeth Balugon.
Evans is one of the best overall players in the country and one of the top 5 guards. She averaged 18 points and 4.2 assists a game in 2019-2020 and was the leader of the team. In her first year after transferring from Georgia Tech, Balogun proved to be a versatile player, playing both guard and forward. She averaged 8.1 points and 4.6 rebounds per game last season.
For those of you wishing to watch the Cards open the season, you can watch on ESPN+.
*stats courtesy of static.gosoutheast.com and gocards.com
