By Derek DeBurger
No. 22 Louisville battled through a physical affair to defeat the Clemson Tigers on the road in Littlejohn Coliseum.
This again
Louisville got off on the wrong foot Sunday.
After giving up the first bucket of the game, the Cards found themselves down 11-8 early in the first quarter.
During this time the Cards were able to shut down Mia Moore as a scorer, but she hurt Louisville as a passer instead.
Rusne Augustinaite was another Tigers player hurting the Cards, scoring seven of Clemson’s first 11 points.
But a post move and a layup from Laura Ziegler took the lid off the basket.
From there Louisville would string together an 18-0 run to jump out on top.
At the end of the first Louisville led 15-11.
It wasn’t until about halfway through the second that Clemson finally broke the streak.
Moore hit back-to-back shots and found Raven Thompson for a three-pointer to cut the lead back down to eight points.
The two teams would more or less trade baskets to end the half.
Louisville went into the break up 30-20.
Close-ish
Louisville came out flat to start the third quarter, with Clemson slowly inching their way back within five points.
But the Cards were able to steady the ship, and push the lead back out to 13 points.
Near the end of the third, Moore pushed off on Skyler Jones and hit her in the throat. No foul was called and Moore drove into the lane for an and-1 layup.
But Jeff Walz challenged the no-call, and a flagrant-1 foul was assessed. The foul was Moore’s fourth and forced her to ride the bench until midway through the fourth quarter.
Louisville would go into the final period up 47-26.
The fourth would once again see Clemson claw their way back into the game, with the Tigers slowly cutting into the lead.
After an assisted layup from Moore to Thompson, Clemson found themselves only down four points. But Tajianna Roberts would see a layup of her own find the bottom of the net to stop the bleeding.
On the very next possession, Moore was called for another push off and fouled out of the game.
With Clemson’s top option out, Louisville’s lead would just balloon.
Even after the foul fest began, there was no real chance for a comeback.
Louisville won 65-54.
Seeing patterns
Louisville has started slow in every game this season.
It’s no longer a trend, it’s a habit.
The slow start already cost them in the season opener against No. 1 UConn. If they don’t find some way to address it, it’s going to cost them several more games.
On the bright side, Ziegler continues to show out this season.
Against a much taller defender much of the time, she put up 17 points and 10 rebounds.
Roberts provided some nice minutes, as well, scoring 12 points with four assists.
Imari Berry gave a good spark off the bench with nine points, five rebounds and two assists.
Louisville advances to 3-1 on the season and 1-0 in the ACC.
Photo Courtesy / Paige Kuwata / Louisville Athletics
