Louisville Bounces Back With Win Over BC

The Cards came back strong after losing their first game of the season last Monday. Despite playing without two key players [Elizabeth Balogun is in Atlanta practicing with the Nigerian national team and Olivia Cochran is out after spraining her knee yesterday] they were able to wear down Boston College. Coach Walz was able to go deep in the bench and Dana Evans got to rest a little for a change. The final score was 97-68.

Once again the Cards had 5 players in double figures. Dana Evans led all scorers with 23 points to which she added 5 assists, 4 rebounds, and 3 steals. Hailey Van Lith had 15 points. Kianna Smith had 14 points.

After the game Coach Walz talked to Nick Curran and said, “We moved the ball and people... do what they do well. Instead of everybody wanting to hunt the basketball we had people setting screens, putting bodies on people, getting our shooters open which is exactly what he have to have. So I was proud of them.”

He talked about players who got more minutes tonight: “You’re not going to have a new role right now. You had all summer to prove to me that you can make threes and you can be an offensive threat. You’re not going to change your role. So if you’re a screener be the best screener in this league. If you’re going to be a defender then be the best defender you can be. But I need you to hang your hat on something so that’s what we talked about trying to make sure every single one of them knows what their role is.”

Dana Evans said that Coach Walz gave them a pre-game speech where he reminded them that Louisville basketball is about passion. She said, “He got us motivated. He just made sure that we know that we have to be tough. Louisville basketball has always been known for toughness, defense, and just getting after it.... taking pride in everything we do here.”

Next up the Cards come back home to play Notre Dame. Coach Walz said that Elizabeth Balogun will be back in time for that game and intimated that Olivia Cochran should be fine as well. The game is at 2PM and can be seen on ESPN.