By Derek DeBurger

No. 13 Louisville continues to roll through the ACC with another dominant victory over the Virginia Tech Hokies.

The win marked Jeff Walz’s 500th at Louisville.

Flightless and flighted birds

After Virginia Tech scored the first basket of the game, Anaya Hardy did what she does and matched her with a layup at the rim.

Again, Hardy was dominant in just a short amount of time, scoring four points and grabbing three offensive rebounds in just seven minutes.

The Hokies held tight with Louisville, but back-to-back three-pointers from Imari Berry gave the Cards some breathing room.

Louisville kept hitting shots and sharing the ball, getting six assists on their seven made field goals in the first quarter.

Louisville led 19-12 at the end of the first.

The second quarter continued the trend of the Cards being able to pick their spot, with Laura Ziegler hitting a mid-range jumper and Berry knocking down another triple to put them up 24-12.

Va Tech was forced into a timeout and was able to right the ship a bit. But right before the break the Cards’ offense exploded once more, seemingly hitting shots at will and ballooning their lead from 11 to 17 points in about a minute.

Louisville went into the break up 44-27.

The third was more of the same, as the Cards continued to have their way with the Hokies.

The one player who did seem to get in on any of the fun was Tajianna Roberts, as she was scoreless midway through the quarter.

But after a pep talk from Walz, Roberts drilled an open three to take the lid off the bucket for her.

The intensity started to slip for Louisville, and with it slipped the lead. What was once as high as 31 points shrunk to just 22.

The Hokies deficit was still gargantuan, but the disparity in energy, urgency and hustle was a foreboding sign for the Cards.

But just when Louisville needed it most, they got back-to-back threes on offense and back-to-back steals on defense to take a 28-point lead into the final period of play.

After the bench players had their time to shine for the final 10 minutes, Louisville won 85-60.

Flying high

Louisville’s recent run of dominance just persists as they blowout opponent after opponent after opponent.

Virginia Tech just happened to be in their way.

Ziegler was a maestro with a game-high 18 points, nine rebounds and four assists.

Berry was incredible off the bench, scoring 13 points with three boards and three assists in just 18 minutes.

As a team the Cards showed that they’re at their best when they share the rock, recording 23 assists on 34 made shots.

They also held the Hokies to 0-for-16 from deep, extinguishing any real hope they may have had at any point in or before the game.

With 500 win, Walz extends what was already the winningest record in program history. He is also now one of eight active coaches with 500 career wins at one school.

As great as his career has been, this might be one of the more impressive teams he’s assembled and coached in recent memory.

Louisville is now 14-3 on the season and 4-0 in the ACC.

Photo Courtesy / Taris Smith / Louisville Athletics