By Derek DeBurger
No. 20 Louisville survives a comeback attempt from the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets to come away victorious.
After giving up the first four points, Louisville orchestrated a 17-2 run to take a 13-point lead. Tech was able to get their offense going again, but the Cards held a strong eight-point lead at the end of the first quarter.
Guard Sydney Taylor and Tonie Morgan went shot-for-shot at the start of the second quarter. Taylor would win the battle, contributing 6 points to grow the Cards’ lead to 15, and another 7-0 run by Taylor pushed the lead to 17.
Taylor scored 23 points by the half, and Louisville at the break led 43-28.
The Cards continued slowly growing their lead, taking advantage of long scoring droughts from the Yellow Jackets. Taylor scored five points in the third, and Nyla Harris and Jayda Curry each put up six to help give the team a 63-40 lead going into the final quarter of play.
Foul trouble for Louisville brought a different air to the arena. Tech entered the bonus not even halfway through the fourth, and a four-minute scoring drought from Louisville shrank the lead to 11. After Tech forced a timeout by trapping forward Olivia Cochran on the baseline, the offense exploded, retaking the momentum and closing out the game decisively.
Louisville went on to win 80-62.
Taylor had maybe the best game of her career. Not only did she score a season-high 31 points—one point off of her career-high of 32—she added four assists and four rebounds off the bench. Tech is known for having a tough defense, which only adds to the feat that was Taylor’s night. Curry was the only other Cardinal to score double-digits, with 13 points. Eylia Love could only record two points in her return to Atlanta.
Louisville played an impressive game defensively, only giving up more than 15 points in a quarter during the fourth. Louisville also did a great job shutting down Morgan; after she scored 14 in the first half, the Cards held her to just two points in the second half. Cochran helped set the tone in the game, grabbing a game-high 12 rebounds and severely limiting the offensive output of Tech’s bigs.
Louisville improves to 22-6 on the season and 11-4 in the ACC.
Photo Courtesy // Louisville Women’s Basketball Twitter
