By Elizabeth Scanland
After a slow start, the No. 17 Louisville Cardinals win their first home game of the season against the Southern Indiana Screaming Eagles.
Freshman blues
In spite of the box score, the Cards struggled in the first quarter. Southern Indiana ran a trap-zone defense which cause the freshman on Louisville major fits by way of missing open shots and turning the ball over. The Cards also struggled with rebounding the ball which turned into easy second-chance points for Southern Indiana.
As Louisville struggled to find their footing and the Screaming Eagles knocked down three-pointers and got to the free throw line, the Cards found themselves down 17-21 with just a minute left in the first quarter.
Louisville took the lead by just one point at the end of the quarter, then opened up the second quarter on an 18-0 run.
The Cards began to look better on defense in the second by constantly swarming players, causing Southern Indiana to turn the ball over and take difficult shots.
Southern Indiana was finally able to get on the board with a jump shot made by Ali Saunders, but that wasn’t able to take the lid off the basket as Louisville outscored them in the second by a margin of 21-4.
Louisville led at halftime 43-25.
After another 10-0 run to start the third quarter, it was clear that the Cards would easily walk away with a win. Louisville would push their lead as high as 33 points in the fourth quarter.
The Cards won 75-51.
The good, the bad and the inexperienced
While Southern Indiana was able to hold their own in the first quarter, by the end of the game the Cards took over in all aspects. From the end of the first quarter to the middle of the third, Louisville had a combined run of 34-4.
But of course there were issues for the Cards to fall behind to a low-major program, namely the freshman. Many of the young players who received major minutes struggled when in the game to handle Southern Indiana’s pressure and panicked when making decisions.
The play cleaned up throughout the game, and a team this young is all but certain to make large strides throughout a full season, but Friday was a reminder just how inexperience much of the core of this team is.
Fan favorite and star forward Olivia Cochran had herself a night leading the team with 15 points and rebounding the ball well as well as being a dominant presence on the defensive end. Tajianna Roberts added 11 points and four assists.
Jayda Curry once again did not play due to an injury.
Louisville advances to 1-1 on the season after their first win. They will play their first road game against UT Martin on Nov. 12.
Photo Courtesy // Rachel Klotz, Louisville Athletics
