Louisville Rolls Over Pitt 81-39

The first quarter of this game was close relatively speaking but the Louisville defense was too much for Pitt. By the time the teams head off the floor for halftime the Cards had a 40-13 lead. The Panthers would not challenge in the second half.

Emily Engstler had 12 points, 10 rebounds, and 7 steals. Chelsie Hall had 10 points, 5 steals, 5 assists, and 3 rebounds. Liz Dixon got knocked in the head in practice this morning and had to get stitches. However she did not have a concussion and wanted to play. She finished the game with 8 points and 5 rebounds. Mykasa Robinson and Norika Konno did not play because they are in Covid protocol and Coach Walz said they would not play on Sunday either.

After the game Coach Walz praised Emily Engstler’s play. “Emily is fantastic. I’m really impressed defensively at some of the things she does. Her hand-eye coordination is off the charts. When that girl tried to throw the ball off her leg and she pinned it against her leg and caught it... that might just look like an average play to a lot of people but that is a big time basketball play.”

Chelsie Hall also talked about playing with Emily. “She can score the ball but she can also pass the ball so she puts us in good positions as well. Her defense helps us so much. She’s long and lanky and able to grab those boards and those blocks.... It’s fun playing with her and watching her do what she does.”

Chelsie also talked about the extra minutes from the bench tonight. “It’s good to see people getting into the game and seeing what they’ve worked on in practice. It’s always fun to see everyone score, get steals, and even take charges.”

Coach Walz gave kudos to the defense but emphasized that they must capitalize on it. “We ended up with 32 points off of their 35 turnovers.... but if you go back to the first quarter I think we forced them into 8 turnovers and scored 1 point. So if you’re going to turn someone over you’ve got to figure out a way to convert it into points and we did a much better job of that [in the next 3 quarters].”

Next up the Cards travel to Miami. The Hurricanes have been on a long Covid pause. The game is Sunday at noon and can be seen on the ACC Network.