Slow start and finish send Cards to defeat vs. NC State -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 

CARDS POOR SHOOTING HELPS WOLFPACK WIN 63-51

It's a simple game in theory, this Naismith creation we love so much here in Louisville. You shoot the ball better than your foe and you make more baskets...and you're probably going to win. Louisville women's basketball couldn't do that, though, before a KFC YUM! Center crowd of 11,175 Sunday afternoon, falling by a dozen to the visitors from Raleigh, North Carolina 63-51.

For UofL, the afternoon began with a scoring slump where the Cards made just one of their first nine shots in the first five minutes and trailed the North Carolina State squad 10-2.  Jeff Walz got a time out to discuss and the Cards did get a three from CC Carr with four minutes left in the first quarter, but in the meantime -- NC State was building a lead that would put them up by 10, at 18-8 with 2:49 left in the quarter. We ever saw a rare Hailey Van Lith departure in the first quarter...she was 0-4 from the floor and a rough start for her

Louisville would see that Wolfpack advantage go to 11 before the Cards got the final five points in the final 3 seconds. Another Carr three and a Mykasa Robinson sinking a turnaround jumper in the paint as time ran out in the first. Carr had totaled Louisville's first eleven points, and at least she was fairly hot with 4-6 shooting and 3-3 from three-point land, but the Cardinals were not and registered a 5-17 (29.4%) first quarter number. NCST was on fire with a 7-10 (70%) shooting display and led the contest 19-13

The Cards needed to pick up the scoring frequency and cool Wes Moore's Wolfpack squad down a bit, and credit the UofL squad for not allowing the Pack to pull away. Carr nailed a three to start the second quarter and Louisville began to chip away at the visitor's lead.

The Cards would draw within three midway through the quarter (24-27) after a Van Lith basket and back-to-back Morgan Jones buckets. The Cards kept knocking at the door and Van Lith tied it at 28-28 with 2:13 until half. And, lo and behold, Louisville would get their first lead with 1:16 to go on a Robinson steal and basket and pad that lead to two when Robinson drove the length of the court and got fouled with a second left in the half. She made one of the two resulting free throws at it was Cards 33 - Wolfpack 31 at the half

UofL led the contest 37-35 after the first three minutes of the third quarter and had their largest lead of the game seconds later at 37-35.  In a closely played quarter, where the Cards held the lead for nearly 7-1/2 of it, it was NC State who scored the final five points of the third and grabbed the lead back at 48-47.

It's interesting to note that Louisville missed their final three shots of the quarter and had a turnover. Little did we know that it was the start of something much worse to follow. Jada Boyd and Saniya Rivers had substituted into the game and were using their speed over the final seven minutes of the third, and, along with Diamond Johnson, went 5-7 against UofL in the quarter.

There's just not a lot to say about the fourth quarter, except Louisville missed their first 13 shots, The teams were actually frozen at 54-48 for three minutes, bot NCST would regain their form and win the quarter 15-4. . 

The final was 63-51, NCST improves to 15-5 and 5-4 in conference and Cards drop to 15-7 and 6-3

THE FRED REPORT

(Maybe Fred Water would have help solve the Cards dry offensive spells)

Free Throws -- A substandard night from the line for UofL, going 7-11 for 63% No letter

Rebounds -- The Cards got out grabbed  41-37.  Cochran had 11 for the Cards, but a loss and losing the boards battle means no letter

Effort/Execution -- UofL lost the points in the paint stat, definitely got outshot from the floor and managed their second lowest point total of the year. Six assists on 20 baskets isn't a great number either. Add in the fourth quarter fiasco and no letter here.

Defense -- 63 points isn't too bad, forcing 15 turnovers and getting seven steals are things that could normally lead to a win, but NCST shot 46% and Louisville had no answer for Diamond Johnson, Jada Boyd and Saniya Rivers. small case "d"

FINAL FRED REPORT --  -_-_-_d

                                             ***********************************                                           

It wasn't Louisville's finest hour and it's a shame it had to happen in front of such a large crowd that realty wanted them to succeed. The inconsistent effort was maddening and frustrating. To fight all the way back and then go dormant .

Hopefully the Cards can regroup and rebound against Wake Forest -- who got handled by Virginia Tech yesterday by 17, 

Just another tricky day in the Atlantic Chaos Conference

PHOTOS BY JARED ANDERSON

THEY SAID IT

POST GAME JEFF WALZ

POST GAME CHRISLYN CARR AND MORGAN JONES

paulie

paulie