By Mariam Prieto and Gabriel Wiest–
Louisville won 76-40 against Murray State in their second game of the season at the KFC Yum! Center Nov. 8.
Coming off a win against Western Kentucky, No. 9 Louisville secured another win against an in-state team. These state wins early in the season could foreshadow in-state dominance for the Cardinals. Louisville’s deep roster contributed to the big win, and Murray could not match the strength of Louisville’s players.
The first half saw an aggressive start. During the first two minutes of the game, Louisville made it to the scoreboard first. Murray did not make it on the scoreboard until the last three minutes of the first quarter. Louisville ended the first quarter leading 16-4.
The second quarter saw the biggest play of the game, with back-to-back scores by junior Dana Evans. Evans forced a turnover after scoring a three, following with a lay up. The first half ended with the Cards almost tripling Murray’s score 38-13.
The second half saw the Racers play with a more aggressive offense. They tripled their score but were not fast enough for the Cardinals. The Cards made two layups in less than 25 seconds. The first was a second chance layup made by senior Kylee Shook, with freshman Norika Konno making the second.
Senior Jazmine Jones led the offense with 14 points and two assists alongside Shook with 13 points and one assist. Shook led the defense with sophomore Seygan Robins and freshman Bionca Dunham, each finishing the game with seven stops. Louisville finished with 21 turnovers, while Murray finished with 24.
Against major teams, having over 20 turnovers would do significant damage against Louisville. Murray State was not able to make points off of turnovers, however, top 25 teams would have taken advantage of this. The Cardinals will look to bring turnovers down before competition rises farther down the schedule.
Without a heavy scorer like Asia Durr who graduated last year, the Cardinals came together to secure the win. Four players including Evans, Shook, Jones and sophomore Elizabeth Balogun entered double digits during the game. This possibly shows that scoring will be more of a group effort during the new season as opposed to the past.
Head coach Jeff Walz said, “We aren’t playing as good as I know we can, which is a good thing.”
“We got to get [turnovers] down to around 11 or 12, and we had 11 turnovers in the first quarter.”
Louisville will be back in action against Central Michigan University on Nov. 14 at the KFC Yum! Center at 6 p.m.
Photo by Gabriel Wiest // The Louisville Cardinal
