By Catherine Laroche
Heading into Saturday’s game against No. 17 DePaul, the University of Louisville women’s basketball team was carrying a 17-game winning streak in Freedom Hall and a six-game winning streak on the season. However, the Cardinals couldn’t add another victory to the win column as the Blue Demons snapped the winning streaks 70-60.
“It was a great game,” Head Coach Tom Collen said. “I know you never think they are as great when you lose, but they [DePaul] are a good team.”
DePaul had much help from Khara Smith as she tallied 18 points and 15 rebounds. She is one of the league’s best post players, leading her team in scoring and rebounding. Smith leads Conference USA in field goal percentage, with 62.1 percent connection. Jenna Rubino and Allie Quigley each contributed 16 points for the Blue Demons as they won their seventh straight game.
Louisville sophomore Jazz Covington led all scorers with 26 points and 10 rebounds for U of L. She was the only Cardinal in double digits. Covington is also a competitor for Smith in league play. She leads the Cards in scoring and rebounding with 18.2 points and 7.7 rebounds per game. She’s right behind Smith in field goal percentage, connecting on 60.1 percent.
“We know that [Jazz] is a special player. Jazz is going to get her points. We just tried to throw some different looks at her,” said DePaul Head Coach Doug Bruno.
The Cards never managed to take the lead. However, they did cut the lead to 50-47 with 9:09 left in the game with a pair of free throws from Covington. The Blue Demons then went on a 10-3 run, which put them in control of the rest of the game.
“There were two things that hurt us,” Collen said. “We turned the ball over too many times and that hurt us; then they were able to convert them into points. They are one of the best defensive rebounding teams in the conference and we didn’t shoot well from the perimeter.”
The Cards ended the game with a poor shooting record of 34 percent (22-of-64). Although DePaul is the nation’s highest scoring team, the yonly shot 43 percent (28-of-65), 15 points below their average.
“You take a lot of things out of this,” said Collen. “We kept them under their [scoring] average, we stayed even with them on the boards, and we missed a lot of shots. So we feel when we step on the court we can play them.”
The Cards still have a very competitive schedule ahead, including Charlotte, East Carolina, Southern Miss, Tulane and Cincinnati.
The Cards will travel to North Carolina to take on Charlotte this Friday. The 49ers are in first place of C-USA. Their only losses are to Florida State, Florida and C-USA opponent DePaul.
The Cards’ remaining opponents all currently hold losing records in C-USA.
