Cards Hold Off Tar Heels 74-67

When Louisville was up comfortably 62-45 going into the 4th quarter I was mentally composing a draft of this recap where I gloated about how our basketball teams basically own the state of North Carolina now. However, in the end I was just breathing a sigh of relief that the women made it out of there with a win. North Carolina turned up the heat on Louisville and that big lead was whittled down to 4 points with under two minutes to play. Fortunately North Carolina didn’t take advantage of Louisville’s turnovers and missed a couple of shots. Dana Evans then dribbled in circles until they were forced to foul and she calmly made the free throws to put the game out of reach.

Dana led all players with 22 points and 6 assists. Jazmine Jones had 19 points. Bionca Dunham had 7 rebounds. Kylee Shook went to the bench early in the second half when she got her third foul and did not return. After the game Coach Walz said that she was having trouble with her knee, but he hoped to have her back for Thursday’s game. He also said that Norika Konno, who did not dress today, would be out a couple of weeks with some knee issues.

After the game Coach Walz talked to Nick Curran and said, “Jaz has really been consistent. I’ve been really happy for her with the way she’s been playing. She’s got to get more than 2 rebounds though with 35 minutes. She’s got to start getting back to the glass.”

With Kylee on the bench Liz Dixon got a lot of minutes. Coach Walz said, “Liz Dixon stepped up and did some really good things. We’re teaching Liz Dixon and Elizabeth Balogun the game. They’re really learning new concepts. It’s difficult. Liz...the one thing I keep talking to her about is every time you have a breakdown it can’t lead to a basket.” He added, “When [she’s] disciplined and plays within the concepts she’s pretty darn good.”

Coach Walz said, “We’re in a situation with this team where we didn’t make those mistakes the past few years....But that’s youth. That’s with players who have never played at the level we’re playing at now and the expectations. But I was really proud of them.”

“It was a great team win. Again, offensively we shoot 48%. We’ve just got to do a better job defensively. We’re allowing teams to shoot way too high of a percentage. Our turnovers— we go sloppy there towards the end. We had a 16-4 advantage at half and then it ends up 16 all.” He concluded, “I don’t care if it’s by 1 point or 10. A win’s a win.”

Next up the Cards come back home to the Yum. They play Virginia at 8PM on Thursday the 23rd. It is 90s Night. The game can be seen on RSN.