Louisville Falls to Gonzaga in OT 79-67

Louisville ended Gonzaga’s season last year and came into the Battle 4 Atlantis like it was a bit of a grudge match. Things started off chippy. There were three technicals called in the first half. The Cards had 15 of their 20 turnovers in the first half but still went into halftime just down 28-29.

Gonzaga held a slight lead for most of the second half. However the Cards finally regained the lead with 44 seconds remaining in regulation off of a layup from freshman Nyla Harris. Unfortunately they couldn’t retain the lead, and the game went into overtime.

In overtime the wheels came off.

Olivia Cochran fouled out of the game with 3:30 left and from that point forward the Zags outplayed the Cards. In the final minutes Louisville missed 7 shots and Gonzaga out-rebounded them 6-3.

Coach Walz was not pleased with his team’s play. “We just got out-rebounded by 19. Absolutely got our ass kicked. They had 18 offensive rebounds and we had 19 defensive... we figured out a way to get one more of their misses than they got. That pretty much sums it up.” He added, “It’s year 16 here for me and I don’t know if we’ve ever been out-rebounded as bad as we were tonight.”

Hailey Van Lith led the Cards in scoring with 18 to which she added 4 steals and 4 assists. Morgan Jones had 12 points and 4 rebounds. Mykasa Robinson had 10 points, 5 rebounds, 5 steals, and 3 assists. Coach Walz praised Mykasa’s game. “I don’t know that she’s ever taken more than 9 shots in a game but I’ve got to have her on the floor because of everything she does. She’s down there fighting to get rebounds.... the kid competes.”

There’s no time to stew over the loss because tomorrow night Louisville faces #3 Texas who was upset by Marquette this afternoon. The game is at 7:30 and can be streamed on FloHoops.com ($).