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Louisville WBB 62 - Northwestern 53

Sonja

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Jun 20, 2001
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The University of Louisville women's basketball squad is headed to the NCAA WBB Tournament Sweet Sixteen. Kianna Smith led four Cards in double figure scoring and Jeff Walz's squad used a 52-28 run over the final three quarters to come back from a 18-point deficit and get the win.

Louisville trailed 25-10 after the first quarter and had shot just 22.2% (4-18) from the floor. Northwestern was red hot from the floor in those first 10 minutes and went 9-14 (64.3%) and sank all four three-pointers they had attempted.

Jeff Walz's message to the Cards after that inglorious start?

Get stops.

And, the Cards complied. In a low scoring second quarter, the Cards held the Wildcats to 3-16 shooting and seven points. The UofL offense still wasn't rolling on all cylinders yet, but the Cards had trimmed the opponent's lead to 12 and there was light at the end of the tunnel.

Using a third quarter 50% shooting spree (5-10) and sinking eight out of ten free throws, the Cards fought back in the third quarter and tied the contest at 40. If Northwestern's strategy to slow down Louisville was to send them to the line, that strategy was playing out well for the Cards. The Wildcats had gone ice cold from the floor and had managed just 15 points in two quarters.

The Cards continued to click offensively and from the foul stripe in the final quarter. They shot 5-11 (45%) and sank 10 out of their 11 free throw attempts. As they slowly pulled away from the Big 10 foe, it was simply a matter of making good decisions, waiting for the Cats to foul and sinking the free throws.

Besides Kianna Smith's 16 points and six rebounds, Olivia Cochran had a huge effort with 13 points and a career high 15 rebounds. Hailey Van Lith sank all four of her shots (three of them three-pointers) and finished with 13 points. Dana Evans reached double figures as well, with 14 points. Kasa Robinson was once again the facilitator Louisville needed, she grabbed nine rebounds and played shut down defense on Northwestern guard Lindsey Pulliam, who went 1-11 from the floor.

Louisville won the rebounding battle against the smaller Wildcats 43-34, but lost the turnover battle 16-11. Northwestern managed 10 steals against the Cards, but the Cards excelled at second chance points 10-1.

Post game Dana: ''We're tough. We got down early but we didn't give up. We didn't get rattled. We stayed together. We trusted the process.''

Post game Walz: ''Back-to-back ballgames now, going to change my pregame speech, those two can't get much worse.

''Last year we had a great team, maybe a Final Four team, that never got a chance to prove it,'' Northwestern coach Joe McKeown said. ''So tonight I think they proved how much fight we have and how tough we are and what a great team to be part of.''

The Cards will face Oregon Sunday at 7 p.m. The Ducks advanced by knocking off #3 seed Georgia.

--sonja--
 
Late in the game, Dana had that stone cold killer stare she has been missing the last few games. I loved seeing that.

Is there any player who plays harder than Kasa? She is the ultimate Energizer Bunny!
Kasa just keeps improving and she gives 110%. Dana is due to bust out.
 
ESPN has Oregon as a 1 point favorite. Cards only higher seed underdog in round of 16. And Oregon lost 5 of last 6 before tournament.
 
Now is the time to bring it! I am confident our Cards will be bringing it for the next 4 games.
 
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