Louisville Defeats DePaul 81-74

In the beginning of this game it seemed DePaul might never miss a shot and Louisville got down early but the Cards turned up the defense and fought back to win. Even though the women’s basketball season isn’t very old, already the two top ranked teams have been defeated so nobody should take for granted taking care of business at home.

Coach Walz said, “Any time we play DePaul I know it’s going to be a really good game.... But overall we get down 13 in the first and they were shooting lights out. We kept our composure and made a little run and tied it up before the end of the quarter. So overall I was really pleased.”

Olivia Cochran seems to be thriving in the current offense and she scored 21 points to which she added 5 rebounds. Nyla Harris had a double double with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Eylia Love came off the bench to add 16 points and 3 rebounds.

Eylia said that the team was okay once they “settled into the game and let the defense create the offense.” Olivia concurred, “Defense wins games so the more intensity we have on defense that’s how we get the opportunity to score.” She did admit “We fell asleep too much and DePaul got too many open threes. We’d been practicing that all week so that’s on us.” She laughed, “We’re still getting to know each other and working together to become a better team so next time we have shooters we will definitely be guarding them.”

Olivia gave a lot of credit for her success today to her teammates, “My teammates depend on me to make shots.... they really want me to be great so they’re putting trust in me and giving me the ball and it feels amazing.” Eylia added, “We need her inside presence because not a lot of people can guard her on the inside so when we can get her the ball in her sweet spots it’s easy money.” Olivia shouted out her roommate Elyia’s game today but added, “I’m happy for ALL my teammates. I want all of us to win so I’m just so happy I’m smiling from ear to ear.”

Coach Walz also praised Elyia’s game. “I told her she’s got a chance to do what Kasa [Mykasa Robinson] did for us.... She’s got really good quickness. She can guard a guard or she can guard a wing. When you’ve got someone on the ball like that with her length then it really disrupts the other team’s offense. What I’ve got to get her to understand is that you’ve got to play with that kind of passion and effort even if you don’t make shots.”

Next up the Cards take on crosstown rival Bellarmine. Louisville Athletics Hall of Famer Monique Reid is an assistant for the Knights. The game is at 7PM on Thursday and can be seen online at ACC Network Extra.