The University of Louisville women's basketball team got a career-tying high 29 points from Dana Evans and used a 28-13 third-quarter run to get by Pittsburgh Thursday night in ACC WBB action in the Peterson Event Center on the Pittsburgh campus.
The Cardinal win pushed their overall record to 20-1 for the 2020-21 season and to 13-1 in ACC WBB play.
Louisville shot a sparkling 50.8% from the floor (33-65) despite going just 3-16 from three-point range. They held the Panthers to just 31.8% shooting (21-66) and won the rebounding battle 44-40 over Pitt, despite taking a 21-14 Pitt beating on the offensive boards.
In addition to Evans 29 points, three other Cardinals finished in double figures. Hailey Van Lith had 13 points and four assists, Liz Dixon had 10 first-half points on her way to 12 total points and Elizabeth Balogun came off the bench to provide 10 points in 24 minutes for the Cards.
Louisville struggled with the Panthers in the first half, seeing both Dixon and Olivia Cochran saddled with two fouls each and backup post Ramani Parker forced into early action. 4-21 Pitt first quarter shooting allowed Louisville to take a 17-9 first quarter lead but Pitt tied the contest at 27-27 in the second quarter, after Gabbie Green's fourth three-pointer of the night. From that point on, though, Louisville outscored Pitt 6-0 in the final 2:37 and took a 33-27 halftime lead to the locker room. That lead appeared to be 36-27 when Dana Evans nailed a buzzer-beating three-pointer from 15 feet past the arc, but an officials' review during halftime resulted in the spectacular shot being declared after the buzzer had sounded. (I still think she got it off in time...)
The third quarter was where the Cards took control. Evans had seven of the Cards first nine points and Louisville increased the margin to 42-32 with 6:58 left in the quarter. The Cards would bump that lead to 18 at 57-39 with 1:56 left in the quarter after a Balogun basket. Balogun connected again with a jumper and two Evans free throws closed out the successful third period for Louisville, giving them a 61-40 lead. Cards shooting excelled in the third quarter -- UofL went 11-18 for 61%.
Pitt managed to trim the Louisville lead to 14 in the first five minutes of the fourth quarter after a Jayla Everett three made it 65-51 Cards, but Louisville went on a game-ending 17-7 run, where Evans nailed two threes, before going to the bench with 2:39 to play and the victory well-in-hand.
The Cards forced 18 Pitt turnovers but committed 17 of their own. Where Louisville really held a big advantage was points-in-the-paint, with a 46-22 edge. It was rebounding-by-committee for the Cards, Kasa Robinson led the way with nine grabs and arguably had her finest game of the season with six points, five assists and no turnovers in 27 minutes.
In post game comments, Jeff Walz admitted there were 'glimpses of good and glimpses of bad' in this one. That there were 'tough stretches but overall did some good things' thanks to a really good second half. Also mentioned how he thought Kasa had a fabulous night contributing 5 assists, 5 steals 9 rebounds and no turnovers.
Coach Walz also added on to the Dana Evans players of the year campaign with her 21 point second half effort and how she been able to consistently do this especially in the month of February. The 'Noles are a notch or two below their usual success rate this season and looked pretty awful in a 62-48 loss to Georgia Tech yesterday.
Walz was critical of ESPNW's lack of coverage of Evans' successes this year, noting that Evans and the Cards successes were often "buried on page six" . It's was an interesting tirade from the Louisville coach....his full postgame comments can be heard at:
JEFF WALZ POST-GAME 2/18/21
In the end, it was an expected win over a struggling Pitt squad and it happened without too much drama. Give credit to Gabbie Green 20-point performance of the bench for the Panthers (she was 5-8 from three point range and Louisville made just three threes in 40 minutes). Jayla Everett overcame a slow start to gather meaningless points when the Cards were way ahead and the ACCN announcers lauded way too much praise on a team that is 5-10 overall and 3-9 in ACC play. Losing Dayshanette Harris, their second-leading scorer early in the contest to a knee injury probably didn't help Pitt's chances for an upset win much at all. I do hope it isn't too serious for Harris, she does bring a spark to the Panthers offense.
Pitt is mostly likely destined to play on Wednesday in the first round of the ACC Tournament against Boston College. . Pitt ends the regular season with Notre Dame, NC State and Georgia Tech -- finding a win in those final three is highly unlikely.
As for the Cards, a trip to Florida State awaits them on Sunday at 4 p.m. Louisville has pretty much wrapped up a #1 seed in the ACC Tournament and is on track to win the regular season title as well, unless disaster strikes in Tallahassee or South Bend . NC State sits behind the Cards with a 9-2 conference mark and 14-2 overall and finishes by bringing in UNC and Pitt, before ending the regular season at Syracuse.
--sonja--
The Cardinal win pushed their overall record to 20-1 for the 2020-21 season and to 13-1 in ACC WBB play.
Louisville shot a sparkling 50.8% from the floor (33-65) despite going just 3-16 from three-point range. They held the Panthers to just 31.8% shooting (21-66) and won the rebounding battle 44-40 over Pitt, despite taking a 21-14 Pitt beating on the offensive boards.
In addition to Evans 29 points, three other Cardinals finished in double figures. Hailey Van Lith had 13 points and four assists, Liz Dixon had 10 first-half points on her way to 12 total points and Elizabeth Balogun came off the bench to provide 10 points in 24 minutes for the Cards.
Louisville struggled with the Panthers in the first half, seeing both Dixon and Olivia Cochran saddled with two fouls each and backup post Ramani Parker forced into early action. 4-21 Pitt first quarter shooting allowed Louisville to take a 17-9 first quarter lead but Pitt tied the contest at 27-27 in the second quarter, after Gabbie Green's fourth three-pointer of the night. From that point on, though, Louisville outscored Pitt 6-0 in the final 2:37 and took a 33-27 halftime lead to the locker room. That lead appeared to be 36-27 when Dana Evans nailed a buzzer-beating three-pointer from 15 feet past the arc, but an officials' review during halftime resulted in the spectacular shot being declared after the buzzer had sounded. (I still think she got it off in time...)
The third quarter was where the Cards took control. Evans had seven of the Cards first nine points and Louisville increased the margin to 42-32 with 6:58 left in the quarter. The Cards would bump that lead to 18 at 57-39 with 1:56 left in the quarter after a Balogun basket. Balogun connected again with a jumper and two Evans free throws closed out the successful third period for Louisville, giving them a 61-40 lead. Cards shooting excelled in the third quarter -- UofL went 11-18 for 61%.
Pitt managed to trim the Louisville lead to 14 in the first five minutes of the fourth quarter after a Jayla Everett three made it 65-51 Cards, but Louisville went on a game-ending 17-7 run, where Evans nailed two threes, before going to the bench with 2:39 to play and the victory well-in-hand.
The Cards forced 18 Pitt turnovers but committed 17 of their own. Where Louisville really held a big advantage was points-in-the-paint, with a 46-22 edge. It was rebounding-by-committee for the Cards, Kasa Robinson led the way with nine grabs and arguably had her finest game of the season with six points, five assists and no turnovers in 27 minutes.
In post game comments, Jeff Walz admitted there were 'glimpses of good and glimpses of bad' in this one. That there were 'tough stretches but overall did some good things' thanks to a really good second half. Also mentioned how he thought Kasa had a fabulous night contributing 5 assists, 5 steals 9 rebounds and no turnovers.
Coach Walz also added on to the Dana Evans players of the year campaign with her 21 point second half effort and how she been able to consistently do this especially in the month of February. The 'Noles are a notch or two below their usual success rate this season and looked pretty awful in a 62-48 loss to Georgia Tech yesterday.
Walz was critical of ESPNW's lack of coverage of Evans' successes this year, noting that Evans and the Cards successes were often "buried on page six" . It's was an interesting tirade from the Louisville coach....his full postgame comments can be heard at:
JEFF WALZ POST-GAME 2/18/21
In the end, it was an expected win over a struggling Pitt squad and it happened without too much drama. Give credit to Gabbie Green 20-point performance of the bench for the Panthers (she was 5-8 from three point range and Louisville made just three threes in 40 minutes). Jayla Everett overcame a slow start to gather meaningless points when the Cards were way ahead and the ACCN announcers lauded way too much praise on a team that is 5-10 overall and 3-9 in ACC play. Losing Dayshanette Harris, their second-leading scorer early in the contest to a knee injury probably didn't help Pitt's chances for an upset win much at all. I do hope it isn't too serious for Harris, she does bring a spark to the Panthers offense.
Pitt is mostly likely destined to play on Wednesday in the first round of the ACC Tournament against Boston College. . Pitt ends the regular season with Notre Dame, NC State and Georgia Tech -- finding a win in those final three is highly unlikely.
As for the Cards, a trip to Florida State awaits them on Sunday at 4 p.m. Louisville has pretty much wrapped up a #1 seed in the ACC Tournament and is on track to win the regular season title as well, unless disaster strikes in Tallahassee or South Bend . NC State sits behind the Cards with a 9-2 conference mark and 14-2 overall and finishes by bringing in UNC and Pitt, before ending the regular season at Syracuse.
--sonja--
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