Emily Engstler Hits Game Winner Over Tech

Coach Walz said the first one to 50 was going to win this game, and it was literally true. After an afternoon of extremely un-pretty basketball the Cards called a timeout with 14 seconds left and the game tied at 48. Coach drew up a beautiful play out of that timeout and it was run to perfection. Game: Cardinals.

Let’s focus more on the fact that this was an exciting victory and less on the fact that in the first quarter Louisville only scored 3 points on 8.3% shooting. Georgia Tech plays tough defense (they held UConn to 44 a few weeks ago) but the Cards were also missing layups and free throws. Overall it was the kind of game you immediately delete off of your DVR but a win is a win is a win.

Despite sitting for a long time with foul trouble, Emily Engstler led all scorers with 14. Olivia Cochran is from Columbus, GA and was playing in front of her former high school team in the stands. She grabbed 13 rebounds and added 7 points and 3 blocked shots. Hailey Van Lith and Chelsie Hall both had 7 points apiece.

After the game Coach Walz spoke with Nick Curran. When asked about the first one 50 he quipped, “I thought that’s exactly what it would be I just didn’t think that we would score 40 of them in two quarters and ten combined in the other two.” He did praise Coach Fortner because her team was dealing with Covid issues in this game, “Just really impressed with her group for the fact that she was down to 7 [players] but she still came out here and played and I respect her for that.” He laughed, “She had a pretty good 7.”

He talked about the final minutes of the game. “We did a really nice job of just trying to change the tempo. We just started pressing full court... we caused back to back turnovers. And then we ran a little set where Hailey got her pull up which I was glad to see that go in for her.” He went on to say, “When I watched that play happen Cubaj was a little late coming over on the handoff from Emily to Hailey and that’s why Hailey got that shot. I just knew if we ran that thing again Cubaj was not going to let that happen at all. She actually committed so quick that Emily was so open and she makes a great layup.”

Next up the Cards come back home to play Pitt. The game is at 7PM on Thursday and can be seen on ACCNX.