Louisville Defeats EKU 82-38

Since transparency has been a hot button issue around Louisville athletics lately I’m going to be honest here: I spent about 95% of this game watching volleyball on the jumbotron at the Yum. I would feel guilty about it except I caught Coach Walz sneaking glances up while his team was playing too. What a great season.

However, I can tell you some of the stats from this game. The Cards made 11 three-pointers especially on the hot hand of Kianna Smith who led all scorers with 22 while going 5 of 7 from the three-point line. Louisville also forced EKU into 25 turnovers. Emily Engstler had another double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds to which she also added 6 steals.

After the game Coach Walz said, “I thought in the first, third, and fourth quarters we defended extremely well. That second quarter we let things get away from us a little bit. We played a little sloppy. But overall the other three I thought were outstanding. I thought we shared the ball well and I was really excited with that. “

[Just FYI this angle does not adequately portray what an amazing play this was. She made a great catch of a tough pass and took it right up.]

Kianna talked about her performance, “I was thinking about it earlier how we’re already in December and it’s my senior year so I’m just cherishing every time I step on the floor of the Yum Center because I know it’s going to come quick where it’s my senior night.” She also talked about the defensive lapse in the second quarter. “After the second quarter we went into halftime and got chewed out a little bit about our defense so we came out with defense as our focus.” Eastern Kentucky had 28 points at halftime and only scored 10 more points the rest of the game.

Next up the Cards travel to Connecticut to meet UConn. Olivia Cochran did not play tonight after taking a knee to the head in the last game but Coach Walz said that she’s progressing and he hopes to have her back for that game. The game is Sunday the 19th at 3:30 and can be seen on ESPN.