Pregame Notes:
Good afternoon Card Nation, your Louisville women’s basketball team will take on the Boston College Eagles in their last regular season road game. The Cards are coming into today’s game after a heartbreaking overtime buzzer-beating loss to 10th-ranked Notre Dame on the road 78-76. Louisville is still fighting for a double-bye in the conference tournament and to improve their NCAA tournament seeding. The Cards lead the all-time series 13-1 over the Eagles, but the Eagles played the Cards close exactly one month ago in the YUM Center.
Starters:
Norkia Konno
Hailey Van Lith
Mykasa Robinson
Nyla Harris
Olivia Cochran
1st Quarter:
Nyla Harris scored on a mid-range bank shot that gave the Cards their first basket of the game. A Hailey Van Lith 3-ball gave the Cards a 5-3 lead early in the quarter. Van Lith scored 8 of the Cards 14 points in the quarter. Louisville led 14-10 heading into the 2nd quarter.
2nd Quarter:
The second quarter was definitely a quarter of runs. Boston College started the quarter on a 4-0 run, after a few Louisville miscues on offense, and tied the game at 14. Louisville used a 12-0 run to take a 30-18 lead with a little over 3 minutes remaining in the quarter. However, BC closed the half on a 8-2 run to cut into the Cards lead. Louisville led 32-26 heading into intermission.
Halftime Stats:
Field Goal %: 12-34 (35.3%)
3PT Field Goal %: 3-10 (30.0%)
Free Throws: 5-6 (83.3%)
Total Rebounds: 27 (11 offensive)
Turnovers: 5
Leading Scorer: Hailey Van Lith (10)
3rd Quarter:
The game of runs continued early in the third quarter as the Eagles used an 13-0 run to take a 39-32 lead over the Cards midway through the quarter. A left handed layup by Merissah Russell gave the Cards their first points of the quarter. Coach Walz switching up the defense seemed to have provided a spark, as the Cards trimmed the BC lead to 2. Two BC free throws later, and after only scoring 8 points, the Cards trailed 40-44 heading into the final quarter.
4th Quarter:
Merissah Russell went on a 4-0 run herself to tie the game at 44. Louisville turned up their defensive pressure to take back the lead. The Cards got great contributions from their bench players, especially Carr and Russell. The Louisville defense stayed engaged and made life tough on Boston College on both ends of the floor, as the Eagles were only able to score 8 points in the final quarter of a tight ball game. Louisville defeated Boston College 62-52 and stay in the chase for a double-bye in the ACC tournament.
Final Stats:
Field Goal %: 23-68 (35.3%)
3PT Field Goal %: 4-19 (21.1%)
Free Throws: 10-14 (71.4%)
Total Rebounds: 52 (23 offensive)
Assists: 17
Steals: 8
Blocks: 3
Bench Points: 32
Turnovers: 12
Leading Scorer: Hailey Van Lith (17)
Post Game Notes:
The Cards improve to 20-9 and 11-5 on the season with the win today. Louisville was led in scoring by Hailey Van Lith with 16. Elizabeth Dixon and Merissah Russell were huge off the bench for Louisville today as they both scored 13 points. Dixon added 12 rebounds (5 offensive). Louisville dominated on the boards today and they needed each one of those rebounds. The Cards struggled mightily on offense in the 3rd quarter today as for most of the quarter the basket had a lid on it. Louisville did finish with 28 points in the paint and scored 16 points off of BC turnovers.
Next Opponent:
Louisville returns back home to close out the regular season with 2 games. First up is the Miami Hurricanes on Thursday, February 23rd at 6 pm. They then face the Notre Dame Fighting Irish for Senior Day on Sunday, February 26th at Noon.
