WBB: CARDS 69 - UCONN 64

 STRONG 4TH QUARTER LIFTS CARDS PAST HUSKIES

Hailey Van Lith scored 10 of her 16 points in the fourth quarter and Louisville went 17-20 from the free throw line in that final 10 minutes to vanquish the UConn Huskies 69-64 in the Mohegan Sun Arena Sunday afternoon. 

Van Lith and Kianna Smith led a balanced Louisville scoring attack with16 each and Ahlana Smith added 11 to improve Louisville to 10-1 on the season. 

Trailing 45-43 after three quarters, the Cards went on a 9-3 run to open the fourth, getting five points from Emily Engstler in that stretch, and then battled back and forth with UConn until Engstler sank a jumper with 1:57 to play to give Louisville a comfortable 59-54 lead.

 

Louisville had to withstand a career high effort from UConn freshman Carolyn Ducharme (24 points) and getting whipped 37-32 on the boards on an afternoon where the Cards shot 53% from three point range (8-15) but only led a total of 12 minutes in the contest. 

It was not an auspicious start for Walz's bunch. The shots weren't falling for Louisville and UConn soared out to a 12-2 leas over the first six minutes. To add to the malfeasance, Emily Engstler picked up two questionable fouls in the first three minutes and found her herself with the best seat in the house for the remainder of the first half, next to Louisville associate coach Stephanie Norman. UConn's Dorka Juhasz was having a picnic in the paint on the Cards and UConn held a 16-9 lead after 10 minutes, aided by UofL's 25% shooting.

Louisville would nibble the Husky lead down to four several times in the first 7-1/2 minutes of the second quarter, but it wasn't until there was 2:23 remaining in the first half that it felt like Louisville was really back in the contest, after a Kianna three made it 24-22 Huskies. Ahlana would get UofL to within one at 26-25 with a minute to play but.Durcharme counted witth a second chance put-back to create the 28-25 UConn halftime lead,

The third quarter was topsy-turvy, UConn built an eight-point lead midway through the quarter, but UofL rallied to go up by three after a Kianna jumper with 2:37 left in the third. UConn went on a 6-0 run to close the quarter, though, and the Cards faced a three point deficit going into the fourth. 

I love the battle and unwillingness to fade away I've seen in this Louisville squad this year and we saw it again in the fourth quarter in Uncasville again today. Van Lith and Engstler had 19 of Louisville's 27 final quarter points and the two went 8-8 from the free throw line. The Cards had no turnovers in the fourth while forcing four UConn miscues and UofL made 14 of their16 free throws.  Chasing down the errant shot, pouring on the defensive intensity and playing smart basketball -- the Cards showed a nationwide TV audience that they were quite worthy of their #7 ranking. 

THE FRED REPORT

Fred McMurray couldn't have got a finer effort
out of "His Three Sons" that the Cards put on today. 

Free Throws -- 17-20 is 85% and that easily qualifies for a CAPITAL "F" in our Fred system. 14-16 in the fourth quarter won this game for Louisville.  

Rebounding -- The Huskies won the battle of the board 37-32 and I was surprised to see it was that close when I check the post-game stats. Engstler did have six for UofL -- but when you only get six out of Cochran and Dixon in 40 minutes...something's amiss. No letter earned here. 

Effort/Execution -- 43% shooting and just 13 turnovers are bright spots in this win and winning points off fast breaks 21-8 shows the hustle too. Yes, it was a painful start, but the Cards recovered nicely and I'll float a CAPITAL "E" out here for the overall performance.

Defense -- Despite the freshman torching us, I was pleased with the defense as a whole . Six steals, Holding the Huskies to 3-15 three point shooting offsets UConn's scoring edge in the paint , It's a win, defense made it partially possible, so I'll finish with a CAPITAL "D"

Final Fred Tally:  F-R-_-D

A well-deserved XMAS break for UofL now, before they begin conference play Dec 30 against Boston College at the KFC YUM! Center. I was off in my pre-season prognostication of a UofL 7-3 mark before UConn and happy to admit it. I don't expect a 18-0 conference run, but, I think the Cards have served notice that the other ACC14 have ample to worry about and NCST isn't in for a walk-in-the-park for a regular-season title. 

paulie