By John McCarthy
Louisville women’s basketball won 62-58 against the Syracuse Orange Dec. 29 at the KFC Yum! Center. This is their first victory in conference play.
In their last game, the Cardinals (12-1, 1-0) won a nail-biter at UT Martin in double overtime. This win over the Orange settled Louisville back into a rhythm at home in a friendly atmosphere.
The Cardinals allowed three early three-pointers from Syracuse (6-6, 0-1), who have only shot 29 percent from the three-point line on the season coming into this game.
The Cardinals struggled to get going in the first half. Junior Kiara Lewis sank 14 points for the Orange in the first quarter. Freshman Teisha Hyman also contributed 12 points, bringing the Orange to a score of 20-19 after the first quarter.
Syracuse led by as many as six points throughout the first half.
Louisville dominated the second and third quarters. The Cardinals outscored the Orange by eight points in the second and third quarters.
Senior Jazmine Jones led the Cardinals in scoring, going to halftime with 18 points on seven of nine shooting from the field. The other Cardinals struggled in the second quarter, shooting only five of 29 from the field combined.
In the fourth quarter, sophomore Elizabeth Balogun contributed 13 points for the Cardinals. Balogun made a clutch put-back layup with 31 seconds left in the game and put Louisville up three.
Jones scored 24 points and was one point away from her career-high for a game.
The Cardinals were able to force a held ball and a turnover which ultimately led to this home victory.
Being 1-0 in ACC conference play is a necessity for the Cardinals in the upcoming week and a half. Louisville will travel to Clemson Jan. 2, then will return home to play Duke on Jan. 5. On Jan. 9, they will travel to south Florida to face No. 24 Miami.
File photo // The Louisville Cardinal
