SCOUTING THE FOE.
Louisville women's basketball gets the 2022-23 season underway when the Cincinnati Bearcats come for a visit to the KFC YUM! Center Monday at 5 p.m.
Cincinnati went 11-17 last year and was 4-11 in the AAC (good for 11th place). They bowed out of the AAC Tournament with a first round loss to Houston.
Leader of the Bearcats is junior Jillian Hayes. Hayes played in all 28 games with a team high 28 starts. She averaged 11.5 points, 6.8 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 2.2 steals and 1.3 blocks in 31.3 minutes per game and led the Bearcats in points (321), rebounds (190) and blocks (36).
Transfer Mya Jackson joins the roster, transferring in from Seton Hall. The senior is a definite three-point threat and started all but one game for the Pirates in her sophomore and junior years there.
In 2021-22, the Bearcats had Braylyn Milton named to the AAC All-Freshman Team. Caitlyn Wilson finished second in the conference in three-point field goals made per game (2.1). Both are still on the roster. The Bearcats had two players ranked in the top-three in steals per game in Arika Levy and Hayes. In addition to the individual accolades, Bearcats were the only AAC program to defeat the conference champion UCF, taking down the Knights 61-57 inside the Bearcats home-arena...Fifth-Third Arena.
The Bearcats return 66% of their scoring from last year.
The Bearcats are coached by Michelle Clark-Heard, who begins her fifth year at UC. Clark-Heard was at Louisville for five years as an assistant coach to Jeff Walz (2007-12). During her time with the program, the Cardinals made three Sweet 16 appearances and their first Final Four appearance, finishing as the National Runner-Up in 2009.
She was a top notch recruiter for the Cards and was instrumental in bringing in the No. 12 recruiting class to UofL in 2008, then followed with three consecutive Top 10 classes in 2009, 2010 and 2011. The 2010 recruiting class was the highest ranked class in school history, No. 5 nationally
Other Louisville connections (city and Cards) on the squad....Malea Williams played for Louisville WBB in 2020-21. Guard Dais'Ja Trotter played high school ball at Seneca High School and Taziah Jenks starred at Louisville Mercy High school.
Assistant coach Devrinn Paul was at the University of Louisville for three years as the video coordinator for the women's basketball team. Prior to being named video coordinator, he was a graduate assistant for the Cardinal women's basketball team for two years and graduated with his master's (higher education in human resources) in 2010.
Heard came to UC from WKU and had an impressive start. Under Clark-Heard, the Bearcats had back-to-back 20 (24 and 22) win seasons in 2018 and 2019. Since then, though, she's gone 19-33 -- a far cry from her four NCAA Tournament appearances in six years at WKU.
--sonja--
Louisville women's basketball gets the 2022-23 season underway when the Cincinnati Bearcats come for a visit to the KFC YUM! Center Monday at 5 p.m.
Cincinnati went 11-17 last year and was 4-11 in the AAC (good for 11th place). They bowed out of the AAC Tournament with a first round loss to Houston.
Leader of the Bearcats is junior Jillian Hayes. Hayes played in all 28 games with a team high 28 starts. She averaged 11.5 points, 6.8 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 2.2 steals and 1.3 blocks in 31.3 minutes per game and led the Bearcats in points (321), rebounds (190) and blocks (36).
Transfer Mya Jackson joins the roster, transferring in from Seton Hall. The senior is a definite three-point threat and started all but one game for the Pirates in her sophomore and junior years there.
In 2021-22, the Bearcats had Braylyn Milton named to the AAC All-Freshman Team. Caitlyn Wilson finished second in the conference in three-point field goals made per game (2.1). Both are still on the roster. The Bearcats had two players ranked in the top-three in steals per game in Arika Levy and Hayes. In addition to the individual accolades, Bearcats were the only AAC program to defeat the conference champion UCF, taking down the Knights 61-57 inside the Bearcats home-arena...Fifth-Third Arena.
The Bearcats return 66% of their scoring from last year.
The Bearcats are coached by Michelle Clark-Heard, who begins her fifth year at UC. Clark-Heard was at Louisville for five years as an assistant coach to Jeff Walz (2007-12). During her time with the program, the Cardinals made three Sweet 16 appearances and their first Final Four appearance, finishing as the National Runner-Up in 2009.
She was a top notch recruiter for the Cards and was instrumental in bringing in the No. 12 recruiting class to UofL in 2008, then followed with three consecutive Top 10 classes in 2009, 2010 and 2011. The 2010 recruiting class was the highest ranked class in school history, No. 5 nationally
Other Louisville connections (city and Cards) on the squad....Malea Williams played for Louisville WBB in 2020-21. Guard Dais'Ja Trotter played high school ball at Seneca High School and Taziah Jenks starred at Louisville Mercy High school.
Assistant coach Devrinn Paul was at the University of Louisville for three years as the video coordinator for the women's basketball team. Prior to being named video coordinator, he was a graduate assistant for the Cardinal women's basketball team for two years and graduated with his master's (higher education in human resources) in 2010.
Heard came to UC from WKU and had an impressive start. Under Clark-Heard, the Bearcats had back-to-back 20 (24 and 22) win seasons in 2018 and 2019. Since then, though, she's gone 19-33 -- a far cry from her four NCAA Tournament appearances in six years at WKU.
--sonja--
