Dana Evans decided she didn't want to lose yesterday and her twisting, turning, falling-down, off balance jumper with eight seconds left in the game gave Louisville 64-63 lead over a Wake Forest squad that caught the Cards WBB squad on a off-afternoon. Cool as a cucumber, Evans also drew a foul on the go-ahead shot and calmly went to the line to give the Cards a two=-point, improbable but exciting win on the road in Winston-Salem. Surviving an "at the buzzer" three from Ivana Raca, the Cards stagger back to the corner, stay undefeated and the departing flights sign at the Smith-Reynolds airport in Winston-Salem Sunday afternoon was probably the second best thing Louisville saw on the Sabbath, only topped by the Evans bucket.
"W's" are "W's", no matter whether they are by two or 22, and the Cards got their 14th of the season, despite trailing most of the second half, getting punished on the boards and shooting a less-than-spectacular 39.7% from the floor. This win probably won't go into any highlight clips, except for Dana's final bucket.
Wake Forest was "the gang-that-could-not shoot-straight" from the free throw line or beyond the arc and that's what lost this upset bid for the home-standing Demon Deacons. 1-11 from three-point range and 12-24 from the foul line aren't numbers to write home about. Jen Hoover probably has two things on her next-practice agenda
. 1) Practice Free Throws 2) Practice three-point attempts. Repeat and rinse.
ACC wins on the road are something the Cards have struggled with (cue up the Virginia Tech highlights) this 2020-21 season, but when you have the #1 guard in the nation and ACC Player of the Year playing for you, good things happen.
No need to go into a detailed analysis or breakdown of this win at Winston-Salem, and -- save for the Evans heroics at the end -- it's a game tape that deserves to be tossed in the toilet instead of re-visited. To those who missed the contest, just know that the Cards won by two, Evans played in All-American fashion with 10-4th quarter points and 25 total and Louisville is 14-0 and still (presumably) still #1 in the NCAA WBB polls.
For what it's worth, the Cards also got clutch performance s from Elizabeth Balogun, Olivia Cochran and a strong second half from Liz Dixon. Norika Konno boosted her bid for more playing time with 14 effective minutes and five points.
Anytime a team can come back from a nine-point deficit with a little over seven minutes to play is impressive. Credit the leader of the squqd, Dana never looked worried, shook off the rough first three quarters and did what Cardinal fans have come to expect from her. She took over and won the game.
Louisville hopefully learned that a four-guard lineup can sometimes falter against a opponent's two-center formation. Louisville probably realizes that the fundamentals of blocking out after attempted shots and hustling for missed shots are still important facets in the game of college basketball. They also learned that you can't take an afternoon off against anyone in the league. If this has been a golf shot, it would have been a hop-back-in-the cart, "FIDO" ball.
"---- it, drive on".
Lessons learned. To use a term, let's turn the page on this one and go to the next chapter. A Miami squad comes to town Tuesday that overcame a 31-10 first quarter drubbing from Pittsburgh to eke out a 72-68 win. Tuesday's 4 p.m. contest is a bit of a strange starting time, but, in this topsy, turvy, COVID-influenced 2020-21 season, let's just be grateful that the Cards are playing and are still undefeated.
Sometimes you win ugly. Sunday was a prime example of that. Accept it, move on and don't look back.
--sonja--
"W's" are "W's", no matter whether they are by two or 22, and the Cards got their 14th of the season, despite trailing most of the second half, getting punished on the boards and shooting a less-than-spectacular 39.7% from the floor. This win probably won't go into any highlight clips, except for Dana's final bucket.
Wake Forest was "the gang-that-could-not shoot-straight" from the free throw line or beyond the arc and that's what lost this upset bid for the home-standing Demon Deacons. 1-11 from three-point range and 12-24 from the foul line aren't numbers to write home about. Jen Hoover probably has two things on her next-practice agenda
. 1) Practice Free Throws 2) Practice three-point attempts. Repeat and rinse.
ACC wins on the road are something the Cards have struggled with (cue up the Virginia Tech highlights) this 2020-21 season, but when you have the #1 guard in the nation and ACC Player of the Year playing for you, good things happen.
No need to go into a detailed analysis or breakdown of this win at Winston-Salem, and -- save for the Evans heroics at the end -- it's a game tape that deserves to be tossed in the toilet instead of re-visited. To those who missed the contest, just know that the Cards won by two, Evans played in All-American fashion with 10-4th quarter points and 25 total and Louisville is 14-0 and still (presumably) still #1 in the NCAA WBB polls.
For what it's worth, the Cards also got clutch performance s from Elizabeth Balogun, Olivia Cochran and a strong second half from Liz Dixon. Norika Konno boosted her bid for more playing time with 14 effective minutes and five points.
Anytime a team can come back from a nine-point deficit with a little over seven minutes to play is impressive. Credit the leader of the squqd, Dana never looked worried, shook off the rough first three quarters and did what Cardinal fans have come to expect from her. She took over and won the game.
Louisville hopefully learned that a four-guard lineup can sometimes falter against a opponent's two-center formation. Louisville probably realizes that the fundamentals of blocking out after attempted shots and hustling for missed shots are still important facets in the game of college basketball. They also learned that you can't take an afternoon off against anyone in the league. If this has been a golf shot, it would have been a hop-back-in-the cart, "FIDO" ball.
"---- it, drive on".
Lessons learned. To use a term, let's turn the page on this one and go to the next chapter. A Miami squad comes to town Tuesday that overcame a 31-10 first quarter drubbing from Pittsburgh to eke out a 72-68 win. Tuesday's 4 p.m. contest is a bit of a strange starting time, but, in this topsy, turvy, COVID-influenced 2020-21 season, let's just be grateful that the Cards are playing and are still undefeated.
Sometimes you win ugly. Sunday was a prime example of that. Accept it, move on and don't look back.
--sonja--
