The Women came out swinging last night but #1 UCONN proved to be the better team this time around beating the Cardinals 68-48. A Louisville program-record crowd of 22,163 had the KFC Yum center rocking as the Cardinals exploded out to a 7-0 lead which was the largest deficit this season for the Huskies. It looked like that there might be some magic on senior night, but trailing 22-21 with 11:57 left in the first half, the Huskies scored 11 straight points as part of a 22-7 run. Louisville went scoreless for 5:05. The score would be 43-31 UCONN leading at the half.
Louisville would have another scoreless stretch of 9:33 in the second half. The ladies just couldn’t get anything going their way missing 31 of their last 44 shots of the game and the Huskies weren’t giving anything up on their end and were playing great basketball. They out-rebounded the Cardinals 47-30 and had a season high 19 offense rebounds that lead to 15 second chance points. Tia Gibbs had 16 points (6-of-10 FG) to lead Louisville (28-3, 16-2) in the loss.
Even though it was a losing effort the night still had its special moments as the Louisville fans honored seniors Tia Gibbs, Shoni Schimmel, Antonita Slaughter and Asia Taylor. It was also Native American Appreciation Night, to honor some of Louisville’s most dedicated fans. Native Americans, with 40 states including Alaska were represented in the Yum Center last night. Many were there to support Shoni Schimmel, and sister Jude, a Cardinals guard, both of whom are members of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla in Oregon. It was hard to grasp the magnitude of the evening for college sports and the Native community. Glad I got to be a part of it.
Native American Halftime:
This group of seniors and women’s basketball team have provided many great moments over the last four years. They became America’s Sweethearts last year after pulling off the biggest upset in the history of the women’s tournament beating Baylor and making that magical run to the Final Four. During the post game last night Shoni Schimmel vowed that before the season was over that they would beat this UCONN team. I don’t think any of us doubt that could happen and I think these ladies still got some magic moments left.
After the game thousands of fans stood in line for hours to get player autographs. Just another testament of how much love and passion Cardinal Nation has for it’s women’s basketball program. It is really special. And the ladies stayed until the last person was through.
Senior Night Ceromnies:
UofL coach Jeff Walz after loss to No. 1 Connecticut;
UofL seniors after the UCONN game: