By Harrison Plank

The Louisville Cardinals coasted to a dominant victory over Syracuse Friday night to start the Cards’ tournament season. Louisville never trailed during the contest.

Moving right along

The Cardinals came out of the gates blazing. A Combined effort from Tajianna Roberts, Laura Ziegler and Mackenly Randolph in the first quarter put the Cards ahead 23-8.

Syracuse’s ACC Freshman of the Year Uche Izoje attempted to keep pace with Louisville; she hit three straight buckets for the Orange to end the quarter. Despite her success, for every shot that she made, the Cards made one as well. Louisville led after the first quarter, 25-12.

It was more of the same throughout the second. Syracuse, led by Izoje, fought with the Cards but did not seem able to get out of the hole that had been dug for them earlier in the game.

Jasmyn Cooper and Izoje looked to turn things around for the Orange before the half, but ACC sixth player of the year Imari Berry hit a buzzer beater before the break that put the Cardinals back ahead by 12.

Louisville led 45-33 at half. 

The Cardinals looked mortal throughout most of the third quarter. Syracuse kept the Cards scoreless for nearly five minutes while scoring 11 straight for themselves. While Louisville was floundering, the Orange cut the Cards’ lead down to 57-47.

 Just when Syracuse thought the game was going their way, Reyna Scott and Elif Istanbulluoglu scored back-to-back buckets, ending what could have been a down third quarter on a high note.

As if Syracuse’s night could get any worse, their 17-point deficit grew to as high as 28 through the final quarter of play. Shy Hawkins hit a driving layup to lessen the blow a little but there was nothing the Orange could do to climb out of this deficit.

Louisville defeated Syracuse 87-61.

On to the next

A Cards team effort was the key to victory against Syracuse. Louisville ended the game with 23 assists and five players finishing with 10 or more points. Tajianna Roberts and Reyna Scott led the Cardinals in scoring with 17 and 15, respectively.

Star Syracuse freshman Uche Izoje finished the game with 22, leading both teams in scoring while also being the only bright spot on a stagnant Syracuse team.

The Cardinals shot an astounding 56% on 68 attempts. The team’s 87 points marks the highest score the Cardinals have ever had in an ACC tournament game.

Louisville Advances into the ACC tournament semifinals and will face the winner of North Carolina v.s. Virginia Tech.

Photo by Adam Mouchrani / The Louisville Caridinal