Pregame Notes:
Good afternoon Card Nation, Coach Jeff Walz your 16th-ranked Louisville women’s team take on the Virginia Cavaliers. The Louisville Cardinals are in the hunt for a 2-seed in the ACC tournament and will need a ton of help if they want a share of the ACC regular season title. With the tournament about 2 weeks away, Louisville currently sits in a 2-way tie for 3rd place. The Cards are coming off an impressive 80-62 victory over Georgia Tech in Atlanta. Sydney Taylor had herself a season-high with 31 points. The Cavaliers are led in scoring and assists by true freshman guard Kymora Johnson (15.3ppg and 5.4apg), 5th year senior forward Camryn Taylor is second on the team in points and first in rebounds (14.5ppg and 6.4rpg). Louisville leads the all time series 11-2, 11-1 under Coach Walz and are undefeated vs UVA in Louisville.
STARTING LINEUP:
Nina Rickards (7.0ppg, 3.5rpg)
Merissah Russell (5.0ppg, 2.2rpg)
Nyla Harris (10.4ppg, 6.1rpg)
Elif Instanbulluoglu (2.7ppg, 2.3rpg)
Olivia Cochran (10.9ppg, 6.4rpg)
1ST QUARTER:
UVA started the game on a 5-2 run with a bucket from Nyla Harris sandwiched in between. The Cards played a very good and efficient quarter, shooting over 50% from the field, but give up 5 offensive rebounds and gave up 4 points off of turnovers. Louisville trailed at home 15-16 heading into the 2nd quarter.
2ND QUARTER:
A Nyla Harris free throw tied the game at 16, and Louisville used a 6-0 run to take a 21-16 lead early. In the remaining minutes of the quarter, the momentum was squarely on the side of UVA. Louisville didn’t do themselves any favors, shooting 2-7 from the free throw line, giving up 6 offensive rebounds, and committing 5 turnovers. Louisville shot 4-11 from the field as UVA only shot 6-19, but UVA was able to take a 26-32 heading into intermission.
HALFTIME STATS:
Field goal %: 11-24 (45.8%)
3pt field goal %: 2-6 (33.3%)
Free throw %: 2-7 (28.6%)
Rebounds: 14 (3 offensive)
Assists: 6
Steals: 1
Turnovers: 9
Leading Scorer: Nyla Harris (10)
3RD QUARTER:
UVA scored the first points of the quarter to extend their lead to 8 (26-34), but the Cards pounded the offensive glass and came away with 9 2nd chance points midway through the quarter. Louisville also used a pair of 5-0 runs to take a 43-41 lead with 4:38 remaining. The Cards used a 14-6 run in the final 4:38 to take a 54-47 lead heading into the final quarter of intermission.
4TH QUARTER:
A Jayda Curry layup gave the Cards a 9-point lead early in the 4th. In fact, the Cards had a 9-point lead a few times in the quarter, but couldn’t close the door on the Cavaliers. UVA used an 8-0 run to cut the lead to one (60-59) before a free throw by Russell ended the run. Louisville really went cold in the final 7 minutes of the game as the Hoos went on a 19-8 run. UofL ends up with its 2nd straight conference home loss, as they fall 68-73.
Final Stats:
Field goal%: 24-56 (42.9%)
3pt field goal %: 6-17 (35.3%)
Free throw%: 14-20 (70.0%)
Rebounds: 36 (12 offensive)
Assists: 12
Steals: 4
Turnovers: 15
Bench Points: 34
Leading Scorer: Nyla Harris (17)
POSTGAME NOTES:
Louisville falls to 22-7 overall and 11-5 in the ACC. They will need some help to stay in contention for a double-bye in conference play. Good thing is, Louisville plays FSU and Notre Dame, and both teams are also in position for a possible double-bye. In most games, Louisville is not only able to control, but dominate the backboards. In this game, they allowed 17 offensive boards and 10 second chance points. Louisville was led in scoring by Nyla Harris with 17 points and 9 rebounds. Louisville had 3 players score in double figures and outscored the UVA bench 34-15. Louisville needs to get a lot tougher, with only 4 guaranteed games left in the season (2 conference, 1 ACC tournament & 1 NCAA tournament) if they want to make another deep run in the ACC and NCAA tournaments. Louisville stays at home when they host 20-8 FSU on Thursday at 8pm, who’s also 11-5 in conference play.
