CARDS WBB DEFEAT UNC AT CHAPEL HILL IN OT
Hello all and thanks for coming back to check in on the joy and excitement on UofL women's sports.
It's been a whirlwind of a weekend for our outlet this weekend and I hope it gets resolved soon. I do know how much time and effort the creators and contributors have put in over the many many years of it's existence and it would be a shame to lose it all.
For now, some decisions have been made to make the Cardinal Couple's access quite limited so we will do the best we can to continue to keep up with the positives.
Since our photographer shoots for multiple sites, he has had to disassociate himself from our site at this time unfortunately. We still don't know if we can use his prior works...
The positives for me are that the University is officially on Winter break!!
Looking forward to creating some holiday memories. Let's cover the Cards' action from Sunday.
WBB
Louisville 76 vs North Carolina 66
The Cardinals needed extra time to pull off a quality victory on the road in the ACC to make the Cardinals 10-3, 2-0 in the conference.
Laura Ziegler scored 13 in the first quarter to finish with 17 point and 8 rebounds. Imari Berry came up clutch down the stretch and finished with 13 of her own with 7 rebounds and 5-6 at the free throw line. Elif Istanbulluoglu had a season high 16 points and committed no turnovers.
UNC lead for only 1:23 but it was at the final ticking moments that Louisville forced the foul to put Berry at the free throw line where she went 1-2 to force overtime.
I will admit, I sighed in defeat when the Cards were down by 1 with under a minute left to play.. I was angry that they could let one like this slip from right under them... and then they didn't! So I've got to give the Cardinals their flowers because WOW! What an effort to pull it out in Chapel Hill. Louisville went 10-0 against UNC in overtime to finally secure a quality win this season.
After the South Carolina game, I had been saying about the team so far this season a couple things...
1. I really like this team and I think they could actually go deep this year.
2. It stood out to me that in the Cards only losses so far this season that they were against ranked opponents and that the difference in points defeated by had been getting smaller so I was optimistic.
And now UofL finally got over that hump to secure a ranked win, in the conference and on the road at that! Sure, it took and extra period to make it happen but the fact that the Cards were able to force the OT and then UNC goes scoreless in that timeframe is a huge resume booster for Louisville.
The FRED Report
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| Fred McMurray |
F - Free Throws: Louisville went 14-17 at the line good for 82.4%. Berry's only miss in the match came in those final seconds when the Cards' could've secured the victory in regulation. I digress, the Cards secured just one needed to go to extra period and make a statement like a scoreless period from the opponent. Capital F
R - Rebounds: 44-39 Cards edge the Tarheels. They were outrebounded 9-4 in the first quarter so to come out on the positive of the category is ideal. Capital R
E - Effort/Execution: The 3 point threat cooled off in the second half for UofL when they shot just 18% going 2-11 from 3 point range. Zeigler went 3-3 in the first quarter and it was kind of an off night for Taj Roberts from beyond the arc where she went 2-8. The fact that this squad forced the overtime period and held its opponent scoreless is a sizable accomplishment. CAPITAL E
D - Defense: The Cardinals let UNC go 60% from the field and 75% from 3 point land when they outscored them 15-10 in the 4Q which is why the overtime period was needed. The Cards still needed 4 complete periods to pull off a victory and are lucky the 5th period didnt doom the golden opportunity. Capital D
That gives Louisville a final tally of F-R-E-D
UP NEXT
This is a great opportunity for some tune up at home before the Cardinals head to NYC for a marquee matchup with the Tennessee Volunteers.
We are hoping for some good news this week on the coverage front.
As Always,
Go Cards
~Daryl
