By Pk Bartley
U of L’s 79-76 loss to Marquette marks their fourth loss in a row dropping their record 14-10 overall, and 5-6 in the conference. The game was close throughout in the first half. Marquette came out on fire scoring the first five points. Louisville was able to stay in the game thanks to some great plays by sophomore guard Nina Simotes who had seven points in the first half and a new career high of 18 for the game.
The game was tied 33 at halftime.
Marquette came out firing to start the second half hitting five three-pointers in the first ten minutes which helped give them a 55-53 lead.
U of L was able to keep it close as the game progressed due to senior forward Amanda Wolke who had two baskets in a row to bring U of L within three.
Then with the score 61-58 Simotes went for a three but was fouled on the play and got three free throws and hit all of them to tie it at 61.
Marquette committed a turn over and giving the ball back to U of L and junior guard Sara Nord hit a jumper to put U of L up by two. As Marquette was bringing the ball up the court senior center Carol Brown stole the ball at mid court and drove down for a lay up to put Louisville up 65-61 with six twenty one left in the game.
Marquette came back and hit two free throws to pull within two. Then after Wolke missed a jumper, Marquette hit one of their season high 12 three pointers to go up one.
Marquette’s lead was up to four at 75-71 when Simotes hit a three to bring the Cards within one. Marquette was able to get one free throw to push the lead to two at 76-74. With 54 seconds left in the game, U of L went inside to senior center Lori Nero who got a lay up for two of her 15 points of the game to tie it back up at 76.
The game did not stay tied up for long as Marquette came down and nailed a three-pointer with 26 seconds left. U of L called a 30-second time out, after which the Cards ran a poorly executed design play, which forced Simotes into taking an off balance three-pointer which she missed. U of L was able to retain possession of the ball but Simotes again missed the jumper to wrap the game up.
“During the time out coach drew up a play and some of the girls weren’t paying attention,” said Simotes. “A couple of girls were not running the play correctly which forced me to have to take a bad shot, because I thought time was running out. If I had known there was more time, I could have passed the ball out to Connie [Neal] for an open three. Some other girls have to step up besides Sara and Lori, and we’re not doing that right now.”
U of L head coach Martin Clapp believes the team is not as focused as they should be. “We’re coming in thinking about all the problems that we have off the court during the game, and you can’t do that,” Clapp said. “You have to focus on the game for two to two and a half hours if you’re going to win. We have to have better focus in the games and practice if we’re going to turn this thing around.”
