Pregame Notes:
Good afternoon Card Nation. Your Louisville women’s team take the floor against the Bucknell Bison. The Cards are coming off a historic 111 to 33 victory over Bellarmine, where they saw 8 players score in double-digits and a couple of Cards set career highs. Alexia Mobley recorded 12 points and Instanbulluoglu recorded her 1st double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds. Bucknell loves to shoot the 3-ball and is very good at it. The Bison also prefer a slower pace, so it will be beneficial for the Cards to try and speed them up while playing defense.
STARTING LINEUP:
Jayda Curry (10.3ppg, 1apg, 2rpg)
Sydney Taylor (11.3ppg, 1.7rpg)
Kiki Jefferson (8ppg, 5rpg)
Nyla Harris (11ppg, 5.7rpg)
Olivia Cochran (12.7ppg, 5.7rpg)
1ST QUARTER:
Olivia Cochran with the jumper to get the scoring started for Louisville. The Cards scored the first 7 points of the game before Bucknell went on a 9-5 run to cut the Cards lead to 3 (12-9) with 4:48 remaining in the quarter. Coach Walz elected to go with a couple different full court pressures to get Bucknell to speed up their pace of play. It worked, but the Bison shot 4-7 from beyond the arc in the quarter. Louisville led Bucknell 22-18 heading into the 2nd quarter.
2ND QUARTER:
The Cards turned up their defensive pressure in the second quarter and forced the Bison to commit 9 turnovers, including a shot clock violation. After going 4-7 from beyond the arc in the 1st quarter, Bucknell was only able to attempt 3 shots beyond the arc and missed all 3. The Cards took a 37-24 lead heading into intermission.
HALFTIME STATS:
Field goal %: 12-28 (42.9%)
3pt field goal %: 1-6 (16.7%)
Free throw %: 12-12 (100%)
Rebounds: 17 (6 offensive)
Assists: 6
Steals: 10
Turnovers: 10
Leading Scorer: Eylia Love (8)
3RD QUARTER:
Louisville kept up their menacing pressure early in the quarter, forcing Bucknell to go 1 for their 1st 8 shots as Louisville opened up a 52-27 lead with just under 3 minutes remaining in the quarter. Sydney Taylor was on fire for the entire quarter. Taylor scored 12 points and went 5-8 from the field in the quarter and outscored Bucknell herself. The Cards led the Bison 57-31 heading into the final quarter of regulation.
4TH QUARTER:
Louisville started the quarter on a quick 6-0 run with 2 consecutive 3s (Jefferson & Van Schaik) to extend their lead to 63-31. It was yet another game where Louisville not only dominated on the glass, but got key minutes for all of their reserves. The Cards got great effort and execution from their reserves in the quarter, especially from Van Schaik who went 2-3 for 7 points. Louisville defeated Bucknell 77-44.
FINAL STATS:
Field goal %: 27-60 (45.0%)
3pt field goal %: 5-13 (38.5%)
Free Throw %: 18-21 (
Rebounds: 40 (15 offensive)
Assists: 16
Turnovers: 15
Bench Points: 26
Leading Scorer: Sydney Taylor (17)
POSTGAME NOTES:
Louisville moves to 4-0 on the young season. The Cards were led in scoring by Sydney Taylor with 17 points. She also chipped in 2 rebounds. After having a record 8 people score 10 points or more in the Bellarmine victory, 4 were able to hit at least 10 points today. It wasn’t a good shooting day from beyond the arc for the Cards until the 4th quarter. Louisville dominate the rebounds again this game, even though the Bison had some pretty good size on their frontline. UofL was without Merissah Russell today. The Cards will head to Alabama to face the Crimson Tide on Friday, November 24th at 7 pm.
