By

Staff Report

The Louisville Cardinal

Over the weekend the University of Louisville women’s basketball team swept through the Cardinal Classic, defeating Dayton, Winthrop and Memphis.

On Friday, the Cards handed the Dayton Flyers their first loss for their season opener, 81-54. The contest marked the first round of the Cardinal Classic. Helen Johnson, Angel McCoughtry, Jazz Covington and Chauntise Wright all had double digits in scoring. Johnson had 18 points, followed by McCoughtry who had 17 points and 11 rebounds. Both Covington and Wright had 11 points.

The Cardinals got out of the gate early with a 16-6 run in the first six minutes, but the Flyers rallied back with 9-0 run, to pull the score to a 12-point deficit. Then the teams battled for points and the Cards went in at the half with the 10 point edge, 37-27. The second half was the epitome of domination as Louisville started out with a 7-0 run and at one time led the Flyers by 31.

In their second game of the weekend, the Cards took on Winthrop and won 69-45. Angel McCoughtry, Brandi Radde and Yuliya Tokova all had solid games, with Tokova notching a double-double with 10 points and 13 rebounds.They started the game with a 12-3 run and continued with a 19-0 run in the first half. Defensively the Cards held Winthrop to 18 percent shooting from the field, and maintained a 45 percent shooting efficiency on their own. The Cards ended the half with a 39-14 lead.

The second half saw the Cardinals protecting and maintaining their lead. McCoughtry sparked the offense when she scored four points in 30 seconds. Soon the backups came out to finish the game.

The Cards finished the game shooting 44 percent from the field while they out-rebounded Winthrop 45-30.

Louisville finished out the tournament beating Memphis 102-64 on Sunday. The Cards scoring outburst that pushed them over the century mark was the first time in over four years. They also tied a school record with 14 three-pointers made. After a slow start with the Tigers hanging tough, head coach Tom Collen’s team finished the half with 27-5 run for 56-35 lead at half. From there, their former Conference USA rival never got within striking distance as Louisville rolled to a 38 point victory. With a 3-0 start under their belt, the Cards now look to Sunday’s home match up with Furman at 1 p.m.