By Derek DeBurger

No. 16 Louisville survived a bit of a scare against the Eastern Kentucky Colonels.

Back to the mean

After nailing a three-pointer on their first possession, the Cards got out to a rough start.

EKU matched the score with a three of their own, then took the lead and held it for the rest of the quarter.

Louisville didn’t score again for over four minutes of game time.

Once the Cards started scoring with some regularity the Colonels were able to match them to keep their lead.

The first quarter ended with Louisville trailing 19-14.

In the second quarter the Cards woke up.

Louisville held EKU scoreless for the first five minutes of the period en route to a 9-0 run and a 22-19 lead.

The Colonels regathered themselves and kept up with Louisville’s offensive output.

With the gave tie with less than 20 seconds left in the half, Skylar Jones hit a layup to retake the lead. Then on the next possession Imari Berry grabbed a steal, finding Tajianna Roberts for a foul and a point at the line.

At the half, Louisville led 30-27.

That’s all folks

The second half was all Cards the whole time.

Louisville opened with a 14-0 run over just three minutes to all but wrap up the game.

Louisville extended their lead to 17 points by the end of the third, and in the fourth Jeff Walz emptied the bench.

Louisville won 76-51.

Not a banner moment

Wednesday’s game was obviously a regression for a Cardinals team that had been making such stead progress.

Louisville struggled early on to get open and hit shots, going 1-for-7 from deep in the first half and finishing the game at 3-for-22 (14%).

But once the Cards got going they didn’t look back. Their highest lead was 29 points, and it could have grown much larger had Walz not put in the young players.

Roberts had a solid game with 12 points and five rebounds, but she had a game-high five turnovers, as well.

As a team Louisville had 16 turnovers but forced 21 from EKU.

I would easy to dissect every little thing that went wrong, but it’s probably better for the team to wipe the slate clean and look to the future.

Louisville is now 11-3 on the season.

Photo Courtesy / Taris Smith / Louisville Athletics