The Louisville women's basketball squad ran past the Great Danes Friday night in the KFC YUM Center 83-51 in first round NCAA WBB action.
Louisville will face Gonzaga Sunday night at 7 p.m. The #9 seed Zags knocked off #8 seed Nebraska in the early game yesterday to advance to Round Twp.
Louisville put four players in double figures, led by Hailey Van Lith's 20 points. Emily Engstler finished with 17 points and is now a 1,000 point scorer in her collegiate career. Kianna Smith tallied 15 points for the Cards and Olivia Cochran added 10.
The Cards held a 19-7 lead after the first quarter -- defense doing what they do for UofL -- UAlbany shot just 23% in the first ten minutes. K.Smith was knocking down the three for UofL and UALBANY was just 1-5 from three-point range.
The second quarter was where the Cards put this one away. Louisville outscored UALBANY 29-13 and Louisville (26-4) used runs of 13-0, 14-0 and 9-0 in the first half to build a 48-20 halftime lead. The Great Danes (23-10) came into the tournament allowing just 48.6 points per game, the second-best defense in the country.
Jeff Walz: " ''We knew we had to come out and try to cause as much havoc as we could, because if you allow them to run their stuff, they're really good at it.''
UAlbany head coach Coleen Mullen: ''To win our conference tournament was really cool, a really great experience ...''so, I think to just get here is the victory and regardless of the outcome, they were going to be winners in my eyes.'
Moments before the tip, new Louisville MBB coach Kenny Payne received a loud standing ovation as he made his way to his seats a couple rows behind the Cardinals bench.
That wasn't the only news for Louisville on Friday. They also announced an extension for women's coach Jeff Walz that will carry him through to the 2028-29 season.
Currently in his 15th season, Walz is the program's all-time winningest coach with a record of 411-112.
--sonja--
Louisville will face Gonzaga Sunday night at 7 p.m. The #9 seed Zags knocked off #8 seed Nebraska in the early game yesterday to advance to Round Twp.
Louisville put four players in double figures, led by Hailey Van Lith's 20 points. Emily Engstler finished with 17 points and is now a 1,000 point scorer in her collegiate career. Kianna Smith tallied 15 points for the Cards and Olivia Cochran added 10.
The Cards held a 19-7 lead after the first quarter -- defense doing what they do for UofL -- UAlbany shot just 23% in the first ten minutes. K.Smith was knocking down the three for UofL and UALBANY was just 1-5 from three-point range.
The second quarter was where the Cards put this one away. Louisville outscored UALBANY 29-13 and Louisville (26-4) used runs of 13-0, 14-0 and 9-0 in the first half to build a 48-20 halftime lead. The Great Danes (23-10) came into the tournament allowing just 48.6 points per game, the second-best defense in the country.
Jeff Walz: " ''We knew we had to come out and try to cause as much havoc as we could, because if you allow them to run their stuff, they're really good at it.''
UAlbany head coach Coleen Mullen: ''To win our conference tournament was really cool, a really great experience ...''so, I think to just get here is the victory and regardless of the outcome, they were going to be winners in my eyes.'
Moments before the tip, new Louisville MBB coach Kenny Payne received a loud standing ovation as he made his way to his seats a couple rows behind the Cardinals bench.
That wasn't the only news for Louisville on Friday. They also announced an extension for women's coach Jeff Walz that will carry him through to the 2028-29 season.
Currently in his 15th season, Walz is the program's all-time winningest coach with a record of 411-112.
--sonja--
