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Louisville decided to flip the script tonight. They started the game sharp and crisp and dominated Marquette. They held a 52-27 lead going into halftime.
Another @SamFuehring layup, assist @A_Hooper25 pic.twitter.com/k73UZPYn3S
— Rachel (@snicklefritz35) March 18, 2018
After halftime the Cards kept a decent lead but the play got sloppy, sloppy, sloppy. Marquette was getting easy baskets, but it didn’t kill Louisville because they were coming right down and getting some easy baskets on the other end. The Cards held their ground in a hard-fought game and came away with the win.
.@Mooks_22 with the layup. Came up gimpy but was back in minutes later pic.twitter.com/F2RzlxSxmB
— Rachel (@snicklefritz35) March 18, 2018
Playing in her last game in the Yum Center, Myisha Hines-Allen led all scorers with 24 points and 13 rebounds. Asia Durr got back on track and added 19 points. Sam Fuehring was on fire in the first quarter scoring 13 of her 19 points.
After the game Myisha got emotional as she expressed her feelings about her time at Louisville:
This moment is why we put on a Louisville Uniform. It’s about the name on the FRONT....not the BACK! @Mooks_22 has given everything to this University. I’m so glad she could walk off the floor for the last time as a winner & give one last farewell kiss! #Sweet16 pic.twitter.com/pNfkvHoCSV
— Sam Purcell (@coachsampurcell) March 18, 2018
WATCH: @UofLWBB's Myisha Hines-Allen thanks her teammates and fans after her final home game as #UofL moves on to NCAA Regionals in Lexington #Sweet16 pic.twitter.com/ZBm5AFQ7Io
— Natalie Grise (@WLKYNatalie) March 18, 2018
Asia Durr gave credit to her teammates, “I think our tempo was pretty good. Like Coach Walz just said, we were trying to feed the ball inside the post because Mya and Sam did a heck of a job tonight as they do every single game.”
.@Mooks_22 is interviewed while @A_Hooper25 throws up her Ls pic.twitter.com/l3qF4wX3FC
— Rachel (@snicklefritz35) March 18, 2018
Coach Walz started off the post-game by showing his appreciation to the fans. “I’d like to thank our crowd. What an absolutely -- just a wonderful, wonderful crowd we had today, especially with our men playing here at 6:30. You know, to get 8,000 to come out, and they were loud. They were into the game.”
He also passed on some wisdom he learned from from Paul Sanderford. “You want to be a really good team, you’ve got to have three of them [great players]. You want to be special, you’ve got to have four. And if you want to be great, you’ve got to have five....And right now, we’re at a point, we played tonight where five of them showed up. Even though on the stat sheet Arica Carter comes up with two points, but she controlled the tempo. She did a great job for us. Jaz goes six of nine, seven assists and one turnover. And our bench, I’m telling you, our bench came in and did a good job.”
Louisville advances to the Sweet 16 up the road in Lexington where they will play the winner of FGCU/Stanford. The game will be Friday on ESPN2.