By Andre Boudreaux
The University of Louisville women’s basketball team defeated the University of Cincinnati Bearcats by a final score of 83-47 on Saturday, Jan. 22 at the KFC Yum! Center. Redshirt sophomore guard Tia Gibbs had 4 points and 3 assists in the game.
This was a timely win for the Cardinals, after suffering back-to-back defeats at the University of Connecticut and the University of Notre Dame. After suffering those defeats, Gibbs said the team needed to work on its weaknesses and learn from the losses.
Junior guard Becky Burke echoed Gibbs’ assessment of the team.
“We need to limit our turnovers and force teams to turn it over,” said Burke. “We need to make sure we make a run the next five games.”
The Cards took that desire to improve to heart. The Bearcats turned the ball over 18 times, compared to the Cards’ 9 turnovers. Gibbs did her part when, having played just 2 minutes into the second half, she stole the ball and took it the length of the court for an easy layup.
Winning games is one aspect that always makes playing sports more enjoyable. But for Gibbs, playing basketball in Louisville makes the real difference. Gibbs, a native of Louisville, played her freshman year at Vanderbilt University. She is happy to be back in Louisville, playing in her hometown. In an interview with The Louisville Cardinal last November, Gibbs said that Vanderbilt was a good school, but it wasn’t the best fit for her.
As much fun as Gibbs and the rest of the team are having, they know there is still a lot of work left to be done. After the win over the Bearcats, head coach Jeff Walz said he was pleased with the team’s performance.
“It was exciting for me to see us finally fight through adversity,” said Walz. “We compete in games, but not for 40 minutes. That’s something we have to do.”
Having two of the next three games at home should help. Louisville is second in the nation in attendance at women’s basketball games. But the team doesn’t think that being second in attendance means being second in fan support.
“If they aren’t at the game, they are checking the games on the Internet,” said Gibbs. “They are No. 1 in support.”
Gibbs is hoping the Cards can ride the wave of the home fans and go a long way this season. The ambition is to go all the way to the national championship game, like the team did in 2009. Gibbs is confident in the group they have this season and is eager to get to the big dance. She said she is certain the team can get there. On the Louisville women’s basketball website, Gibbs is the team blogger, giving behind-the-scenes insight of the Cardinals’ road to the championship and cheering her team on.
