Louisville women's basketball overcame a slow start last night in the NCAA women's basketball tournament and used a 45-19 second half to defeat #15 seed Marist in San Antonio's Alamodome last night in first round NCAA Tournament play.
Hailey Van Lith led all scorers with 17 points and Dana Evans added 15 for the Cards, who go to 24-3 and advance to face Northwestern on Wednesday.
Louisville couldn't generate much offense in the early going and Marist held a 15-12 lead after 10 minutes of play. The Cards shot just 26% (4-15) in that first quarter and were missing some easy opportunities to put points on the board. Marist increased their lead to 21-12 after two minutes of the second quarter, but, starting with a "E" Balogun three, the Cards went on a 17-3 run to take control of the game again and hold a 29-24 halftime lead.
The Cards adjusted the player personnel on court and found success with Van Lith, Balogun, Evans, Norika Konno, Kasa Robinson, Ahlana and Kianna Smith. By going "small", Louisville was able to increase the pace of the offense and turn up the defensive intensity.
The smaller lineup paid huge dividends in the third quarter. Using a 10-0 run early in the third, Louisville sped out to a 41-28 lead. Threes were starting to fall for Van Lith and Kianna Smith and Marist was folding under the intense Cardinal defensive pressure. Louisville complimented the first run with a 12-1 run and surged ahead to hold a 53-29 lead with two minutes left in the third quarter. The quarter ended with UofL enjoying a 55-33 lead and the Cards had won the pivotal quarter 26-9. And, they did a lot of the damage with All-American Dana Evans watching from the sidelines.
Marist was a defeated and out-of-sync squad. Louisville built upon their lead and eventually started working some of their "bigs" back into the line up. A 19-10 fourth quarter edge for UofL, Walz substituted frequently in the fourth, playing all 12 student-athletes he brought to San Antonio and reserve Malea Williams sent the bench into a frenzy when she nailed two shots in the final 1:30
Your final: A 31-point win. 74-43
-- The Cards overcame the slow offensive start to end up 44.4% from the floor (28-63). Marist jnever got in sync and struggled with the Cardinal defensive pressure. shooting 23.2% for the forty minutes (13-56)
-- It was a block party for the Cards, they had eight of them, Balogun and Dixon with two each.
-- Louisville forced 22 turnovers, while committing 16.
Post game Hailey Van Lith: 'We just turned it up on defense and got easy layups,'' Van Lith said. ''We saw it go in. We started playing as a team, we turned it up, had energy and made the game fun for us.''
Post game Jeff Walz: ''I (knew) this was going to happen. We just missed layups and we missed open shots, hit the side of the backboard. It's what takes place in the first round of the NCAAs when there are a lot of expectations. That's one thing the kids learn to play with. You're a two seed and you're expected to win. We had players who hadn't been in that position before and it showed.''
Louisville will face Northwesternnext on Wednesday. The contest tips at 5 p.m. and will once again be in the Alamodome. ESPN will have the feed.
--sonja--
Hailey Van Lith led all scorers with 17 points and Dana Evans added 15 for the Cards, who go to 24-3 and advance to face Northwestern on Wednesday.
Louisville couldn't generate much offense in the early going and Marist held a 15-12 lead after 10 minutes of play. The Cards shot just 26% (4-15) in that first quarter and were missing some easy opportunities to put points on the board. Marist increased their lead to 21-12 after two minutes of the second quarter, but, starting with a "E" Balogun three, the Cards went on a 17-3 run to take control of the game again and hold a 29-24 halftime lead.
The Cards adjusted the player personnel on court and found success with Van Lith, Balogun, Evans, Norika Konno, Kasa Robinson, Ahlana and Kianna Smith. By going "small", Louisville was able to increase the pace of the offense and turn up the defensive intensity.
The smaller lineup paid huge dividends in the third quarter. Using a 10-0 run early in the third, Louisville sped out to a 41-28 lead. Threes were starting to fall for Van Lith and Kianna Smith and Marist was folding under the intense Cardinal defensive pressure. Louisville complimented the first run with a 12-1 run and surged ahead to hold a 53-29 lead with two minutes left in the third quarter. The quarter ended with UofL enjoying a 55-33 lead and the Cards had won the pivotal quarter 26-9. And, they did a lot of the damage with All-American Dana Evans watching from the sidelines.
Marist was a defeated and out-of-sync squad. Louisville built upon their lead and eventually started working some of their "bigs" back into the line up. A 19-10 fourth quarter edge for UofL, Walz substituted frequently in the fourth, playing all 12 student-athletes he brought to San Antonio and reserve Malea Williams sent the bench into a frenzy when she nailed two shots in the final 1:30
Your final: A 31-point win. 74-43
-- The Cards overcame the slow offensive start to end up 44.4% from the floor (28-63). Marist jnever got in sync and struggled with the Cardinal defensive pressure. shooting 23.2% for the forty minutes (13-56)
-- It was a block party for the Cards, they had eight of them, Balogun and Dixon with two each.
-- Louisville forced 22 turnovers, while committing 16.
Post game Hailey Van Lith: 'We just turned it up on defense and got easy layups,'' Van Lith said. ''We saw it go in. We started playing as a team, we turned it up, had energy and made the game fun for us.''
Post game Jeff Walz: ''I (knew) this was going to happen. We just missed layups and we missed open shots, hit the side of the backboard. It's what takes place in the first round of the NCAAs when there are a lot of expectations. That's one thing the kids learn to play with. You're a two seed and you're expected to win. We had players who hadn't been in that position before and it showed.''
Louisville will face Northwesternnext on Wednesday. The contest tips at 5 p.m. and will once again be in the Alamodome. ESPN will have the feed.
--sonja--
