By Pk Barley
For the second time in less than a week, a Louisville basketball team beat a Top 16 ranked team from the SEC. On Saturday, the men took out the No. 16 University of Kentucky. On Thursday it was the Lady’s turn as they knocked off No. 12 Vanderbilt 92-82.
The Lady Cards came out on fire to start the game, shooting 61 percent from the field in the first half, and 50 percent from behind the three-point line.
Senior center Lori Neo led the way for the Lady Cards. In the first half she hit all eight shots scoring 17 points and pulling down five rebounds.
“We have been getting up early and shooting every morning,” Nero said. “I really think that helped a lot.”
Despite shooting only 44 percent, Vandy was able to keep the score close for most of the first half.
At about the six minute mark, leading 34-28, the Lady Cards went on an 11-4 run to break the game open. The first half ended with Louisville up 45-32, after a last second three-pointer by senior guard Sabrina Minter.
“I really think Bree’s (Minter’s) three at the buzzer there at half time gave us big momentum,” said U of L head coach Martin Clapp. “Because we had played pretty well up to that point.”
In the second half, Vanderbilt seemed to play with a little more emotion. However every run they made, U of L had an answer for. At one point, the Lady Commodores were able to cut the U of L lead down to nine, 51-42. But then junior guard Sara Nord hit two big shots to put the lead back up to 12.
Nord led all scorers with 25 points, six rebounds, and seven assists in the game.
The win was especially sweet for her after what happened against Vandy last year. “I think we went into the game having more confidence,” said Nord. “Last year I was one of the players who said I hope we don’t get beat by 40, and as you all have seen, we got beat by 38. And this year I told everybody we can win this game. The coaches kept putting it in our head that they were beatable, so we just went out and executed.”
Vanderbilt was only able to get as close as seven points in the second half. At that point they made U of L win it from the line, which the Lady Cards did, only missing three free-throws in the second half.
The win also marks the 100th career victory for Clapp. “It meant a lot to me that the players went out and played as hard as they did and competed to the end,” Clapp said. “Coaches do a lot but the players have to go out and execute and that was the big thing tonight.”
The win improves U of L’s record to 7-4. 3,584 fans came to watch the Lady Cards play tonight.
For the next home game, Sunday at 2pm against UK, Louisville wants to set a new attendance record for a women’s game at Freedom Hall. They need over 15,992 fans to set the record, so come on out and see if U of L can make it 2-0 against Kentucky in basketball this year.
