By Josh Lipka

The No. 7 University of Louisville women’s basketball team fell to No. 11 Gonzaga University in the Sweet 16 matchup on Saturday, March 26. This loss ended the Cardinals’ season and their hopes for an NCAA Championship.

The match was played in Spokane, Wash. – home territory for the Gonzaga Bulldogs. The Cardinals have had to deal with their fair share of away crowds in this year’s NCAA Tournament. In the round of 32, the visiting Cardinals came back to topple Xavier University in the final minutes. In that game, freshman guard Shoni Schimmel scored 33 points to give the Cardinals the victory.

In the Sweet 16, things started off shaky for the Cardinals when junior forward Monique Reid suffered a pre-game injury.

“It’s very, very unfortunate that you get to the Sweet 16 and you get a kid that gets hurt in warm-ups,” said Jeff Walz, women’s basketball head coach. “So, unfortunately, we got hurt stretching.”

Reid played a total of 5 minutes and scored 2 points for the Cardinals.

The absence of Reid only made the situation worse for the visiting Cardinals. After a 33-point game against Xavier, Schimmel managed to put up only 2 points in the first half against Gonzaga. By the end of the first half, the Cardinals trailed the Bulldogs 35-24.

In the past, the Cardinals have shown the ability not to quit, which has been vital to their success. In the second half, with the game clock at 2:56, the Cardinals managed to get within 3 points, trailing the Bulldogs by only 65-62 before Gonzaga pulled away.

Gonzaga senior guard Courtney Vandersloot put on a performance against the Cardinals similar to Schimmel’s in the Xavier game. Vandersloot scored 33 points and had 7 assists, setting a new record for most assists in a single season in women’s NCAA history, a record that hasn’t been broken since the 1986-1987 season.

“She’s definitely a good point guard,” said Schimmel. “I mean, she’s a senior and she knows what she’s doing. Just watching her on film – she knows what she’s doing. So, I mean, just to play against her is exciting, but also kind of different just because she could do what she did and she did it nicely.”

Vandersloot currently has 358 assists in the 2010-2011 season.

Sophomore guard Tia Gibbs said that the Cards had to work harder to come back in the second half, because they trailed early.

“We dug ourselves a hole in the beginning and had to fight back,” said Gibbs during a postgame press conference. “But it’s one thing that we don’t do is quit. Like Coach said, he won’t quit, so we won’t quit.”

Gibbs scored 16 points in the loss to Gonzaga.

Despite the loss against the Bulldogs, the Cardinals are looking to the future.

“It’s motivation,” said Gibbs during an NCAA postgame press conference. “From last year not even making it into the tournament and then making it to the Sweet 16, it’s a bar set for us. And we’re not going to stop here. We plan to make it to the Final Four next year. That’s it. We’re going to put in the work to get there like we did last season to get here.”