By Derek DeBurger
No. 15 Louisville cruises to a victory over the Wake Forest Demon Deacons to claim sole possession of first place in the ACC.
With the two teams on opposite ends of the conference going into Sunday’s matchup, the outcome was expected to be lopsided. The first quarter, however, was anything but.
Lousiville tried to come out and put their foot down early, but Wake wasn’t afraid of the big bad birdies. They didn’t see a look from three-point range that they didn’t like. The Deacons also took advantage of what has been Louisville’s Achilles heel this season—lazy passes—and created several transition looks for themselves all while limiting Louisville possessions. The quarter ended on a 9-2 run from Wake that was capped off by a steal and a step-back buzzer-beating three from Kate Deeble. Louisville led by a single point going into the second quarter.
Wake held all the momentum, at home nonetheless. Instead of panicking, the Cards simply cleaned things up. They cut out lazy passes completely and extended the lead to a nearly insurmountable 46-27 at the half.
The Cards were just playing with their food when the third quarter began. There was no real fear that Wake could come back, everything revolved around Louisville as they dictated the terms of engagement. No one player took over the offense, but Jayda Curry was the one who all but wrapped the game up with a near half-court shot at the end of the third.
Louisville was outscored in the fourth, but it didn’t matter at that point. The Cards were just running an open practice.
Louisville handily won 83-62.
With Virginia Tech’s loss Sunday, Louisville is now the last team standing with an undefeated ACC record. With the inside track to win the ACC regular season, there is no better time for them to be playing their best basketball of the season. Jeff Walz teams are known for peaking in March, so it’s a great time to be a Cardinals fan.
Merissah Russell is also playing lights out. She is playing the best basketball of her career to date highlighted by her outside shooting. She has scored double-digits in three out of her last four games and has chipped in some steals and rebounds to continue filling the roll of whatever is needed of her.
It’s hard not to get optimistic for another potential deep tournament run, but there are a lot of tough conference games left on the schedule.
The Cards will have their work cut out for them, but for now, they are 15-2 on the season and 4-0 in the ACC.
Photo Courtesy // Taris Smith, U of L Athletics
