Louisville’s soul-crushing 92-48 performance makes it an easy night

Louisville, KY — The No. 5 Louisville Cardinals stormed past the Lafayette Leopards with a balanced effort.

“Everybody got some quality minutes,” Coach Jeff Walz said. “For the most part, I was glad we had the opportunity to get some players some playing time.”

The Louisville Cardinals and the Lafayette Leopards started out cold as both teams struggled offensively. Neither team posted points in the first minute.

But the Leopards woke the Cardinals up after a foul committed by Maia Hood sent Asia Durr to the charity stripe to hit two. A steal by Durr set Mariya Moore up to hit a three-pointer. The Cardinals grabbed five quick points to take a 5-0 lead.

Louisville took advantage of Lafayette’s on court struggle, extending the 5-0 run to a 14-0 run. The Cardinals’ defense kept Lafayette off the board until the 5:00 minute mark when Harriet Ottewill-Soulsby drove to the bucket for two.

The Cardinals limited the Leopards to just six first period points on 23.1% shooting.

The Leopards’ offensive woes continued into the second period as an inbound pass was picked off and taken to the bucket by Briahanna Jackson. Taylor Johnson followed up with four quick points for Louisville. Sam Fuehring added two of her own as the Cardinals went on a quick 8-0 run.

Each time the Leopards would gain momentum, Louisville would counter with full force. The Cardinals held a 48-17 lead at the half.

Despite Louisville’s strong lead, the Cardinals turned the ball over 10 times. Luckily, Lafayette could not capitalize on the turnovers, only grabbing three points at the Cardinals’ advantage.

Louisville converted 16 turnovers into 25-points and dominated the boards, out-rebounding the Leopards, 31-18.

The Cardinals came out with another dominant performance in the third period, outscoring the Leopards 26-12 extending the lead to 45-points.

Louisville dished out seven assists on 12-shots, while cleaning up on the offensive end, pulling down nine offensive rebounds.

Ashley Lutz came up big for the Leopards in the third as she was able to get to the line and hit two. Lutz also fired off a three-point shot at the end of the quarter to give Lafayette some momentum.

Despite controlling the first three quarters, Lafayette outscored the Cardinals in the fourth, a stat that did not please Coach Jeff Walz.

“We also talked about trying to win a fourth quarter, and we couldn’t do it.” Walz said, “We just have to be able to follow through.”

The Leopards’ performance in the fourth could not cut into Louisville’s lead. The Cardinals notched their fifth win on the season, defeating Lafayette, 92-48.

Big Scorers

The Cardinals had five players post double-digits: Sam Fuehring went 6-of-6 from the field racking up 13 -points in 16-minutes played. Asia Durr had a quiet evening, tallying 13-points and two rebounds.

Mariya Moore came up big for the Cardinals as she posted 12-points on 5-of-9 shooting, while pulling down seven rebounds. Briahanna Jackson contributed 11-points and a team-best three steals. Rounding out the top scorers is freshman Kylie Shook who posted 10-points and five rebounds.

While she did not post double-figures, Myisha Hines-Allen finished the evening with seven points, 14-rebounds, five assists and two steals.

For the Leopards, Ashley Lutz and Olivia Gumbs tallied nine points apiece.

Next Up

The Cardinals are set to face the Chattanooga Mocs as the Basketball Hall of Fame Challenge wraps up a stint at the KFC Yum! Center.