Louisville women roll to 10-0
Dominant 2nd and 3rd quarters helped No. 4 Louisville cruise to a 10-0 start with an easy 79-57 win over visiting Vanderbilt Thursday night.
"It's one win better than 9-0. ... It's great. It looks good on paper, but it doesn't get you anything," coach Jeff Walz said. "I don't get to go to the grocery store and get free stuff just because we are 10-0. I mean, we can't put it on a tab. But I'm happy."
All-American Asia Durr scored 25 points on 7 of 11 shooting. Sam Fuehring had 14 points and was 6 of 6 from the foul line. Arica Carter had 15 points. Vanderbilt (3-7) was led by Rachel Bell's 21 points.
The Cardinals (10-0) struggled with turnovers early, but settled down and blew out the Commodores 22-9 in the second quarter to take a 42-33 halftime lead. Fuehring led UofL with 12 halftime points.
"We started off slow in the first quarter," Durr said. "We started off slow and then got the hang of it. In order for us to get where we need to be we need to start each quarter off fast."
Louisville's dominance continued in the second half, as UofL won the quarter 25-4. The Cardinals' smothering defense forced 26 Commodore turnovers.
"We were not giving ourselves an opportunity to get shots, we were turning the ball over before we got a chance to get a shot up," Vandy coach Stephanie White said, crediting Louisville's defense.
Fuehring said it is clear when teams start getting frustrated with Louisville's defensive intensity.
"They'll start pushing or talking to us," Fuehring said. "We can tell."
"As we continue to play harder and play harder teams are going to get frustrated and act out," Durr said. "As Coach Sam says, we just need to keep jabbing, keep jabbing."
When the Cardinals finally cooled their heels, the Cardinals were up 70-37 early in the 4th quarter.
Louisville out-scored Vandy 34-16 in the paint and out-rebounded the Commodores 34-26. UofL passed the ball well, notching 16 assists on 27 made baskets. Louisville was also stellar from the foul line, hitting 19 of 22 foul shots.