Louisville begins the 2020-21 WBB campaign with a 21-point win on the road Wednesday against last-minute opponent SEMO. The Cards can thank their defense a lot for this win, Louisville held the Red Hawks to 27.3% shooting and created 19 turnovers that led to 26 points.
We've head god things about the freshman class on Jeff Walz's squad and they certainly lived up to the pre-season billing yesterday. Olivia Cochran led the Cards in scoring with 17 points, going 4-9 from the floor and an impressive 9-10 from the free throw line. Hailey Van Lith did not disappoint either, with 13 points and and eight rebounds for the 5'7" guard, Senior Dana Evans totalled 15 points and six assists in a team-leading 32 minutes for Louisville. Freshman Merissah Russell had a decent debut also with her eight points and five rebounds.
Louisville struggled at times against the Red Hawks zone, especially from the three-point range, where they went a sub-par 2-17, but the Cards held SEMO to just 27.3% shooting from the floor and had 10 blocked shots against the taller Red Hawks. The Cards did build a 38-24 half-time lead after a close 18-16 first quarter. SEMO managed to trim the lead to six at 45-39 with four minutes left in the third quarter, but the Cards picked up the pace defensively and outscored the home-standing Red Hawks 29-14 the rest of the way.
Five Things About The Game:
1) You Don't Want It? I'll Take It! The 26-10 points off turnovers edge really stands out to me. This Cards WBB team was really aggressive defensively and, unlike in past years, wasn't foul-prone. The shut-down in the fourth quarter (SEMO shot 8% on 1-12 shooting) was great to see so early in the season.
2) Musta been the rims...right? I can't brag about UofL's three-point prowess. The Cards started out 0-for-first half with 11 misses. Finally, the fearless freshman Van Lith got it started with a three to begin the second half, but, the only other trey-ball came from Norika Konno. That long-range marksmanship must improve.
3) Trying to tame Tesia. The All-OVC preseason pick Tesia Thompson proved she wasn't afraid of the ACC. Truth be told, she pretty much had her way against the Cards guards with 21 points and two threes in 31 minutes. Louisville tried everyone but Kianna Smith on her. Speaking of Kianna...
4) One Card Short. Kianna Smith did not make the trip to Cape Girardeau. Paulie inquired and got the rather cryptic response of "she wasn't available" for the game. Read what you will into that. Was it COVIF protocol? Rules infraction? Overslept and missed the bus? Whatever the reason for the absence, she was definitely missed and let's hope she's OK and back with the Cards soon.
5) MOP Award. I'll give the Most Outstanding Player award to Olivia Cochran. A huge first game performance for the 6'3" freshman forward from Columbus, GA. At times, I swear I was watching a re-incarnate of Myisha Hines-Allen on the court. She wears #44 for the Cards. There's another
pretty good Georgia athlete who wore that number as well....one Hammerin' Hank Aaron.
Remember the number. She's no turkey. Speaking of turkey's, I gotta go baste, A Happy Thanksgiving to one and all !!
--sonja--
We've head god things about the freshman class on Jeff Walz's squad and they certainly lived up to the pre-season billing yesterday. Olivia Cochran led the Cards in scoring with 17 points, going 4-9 from the floor and an impressive 9-10 from the free throw line. Hailey Van Lith did not disappoint either, with 13 points and and eight rebounds for the 5'7" guard, Senior Dana Evans totalled 15 points and six assists in a team-leading 32 minutes for Louisville. Freshman Merissah Russell had a decent debut also with her eight points and five rebounds.
Louisville struggled at times against the Red Hawks zone, especially from the three-point range, where they went a sub-par 2-17, but the Cards held SEMO to just 27.3% shooting from the floor and had 10 blocked shots against the taller Red Hawks. The Cards did build a 38-24 half-time lead after a close 18-16 first quarter. SEMO managed to trim the lead to six at 45-39 with four minutes left in the third quarter, but the Cards picked up the pace defensively and outscored the home-standing Red Hawks 29-14 the rest of the way.
Five Things About The Game:
1) You Don't Want It? I'll Take It! The 26-10 points off turnovers edge really stands out to me. This Cards WBB team was really aggressive defensively and, unlike in past years, wasn't foul-prone. The shut-down in the fourth quarter (SEMO shot 8% on 1-12 shooting) was great to see so early in the season.
2) Musta been the rims...right? I can't brag about UofL's three-point prowess. The Cards started out 0-for-first half with 11 misses. Finally, the fearless freshman Van Lith got it started with a three to begin the second half, but, the only other trey-ball came from Norika Konno. That long-range marksmanship must improve.
3) Trying to tame Tesia. The All-OVC preseason pick Tesia Thompson proved she wasn't afraid of the ACC. Truth be told, she pretty much had her way against the Cards guards with 21 points and two threes in 31 minutes. Louisville tried everyone but Kianna Smith on her. Speaking of Kianna...
4) One Card Short. Kianna Smith did not make the trip to Cape Girardeau. Paulie inquired and got the rather cryptic response of "she wasn't available" for the game. Read what you will into that. Was it COVIF protocol? Rules infraction? Overslept and missed the bus? Whatever the reason for the absence, she was definitely missed and let's hope she's OK and back with the Cards soon.
5) MOP Award. I'll give the Most Outstanding Player award to Olivia Cochran. A huge first game performance for the 6'3" freshman forward from Columbus, GA. At times, I swear I was watching a re-incarnate of Myisha Hines-Allen on the court. She wears #44 for the Cards. There's another
pretty good Georgia athlete who wore that number as well....one Hammerin' Hank Aaron.
Remember the number. She's no turkey. Speaking of turkey's, I gotta go baste, A Happy Thanksgiving to one and all !!
--sonja--
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