Louisville women roll to a 25-point win in NCAA
A 20-3 first half run and a 28-7 second half run helped the Louisville women's basketball team advance to the NCAA Tournament Second Round Sunday with a 74-49 win against Middle Tennessee State. The Cardinals got 20 points from Shoni Schimmel and 15 from Monique Reid.
The Cardinals raced to a 13-3 lead in the first four minutes and continued to pressure the Blue Raiders. UofL built an 18-3 lead by the first media timeout using stifling defense to force numerous Blue Raider turnovers.
After Louisville blasted MTSU 18-3 in the first segment, Middle won the second segment 10-6. MTSU cut the Cardinals' lead to 26-18 with just over five minutes left in the half, but the Cardinals went on a 6-1 run to push the lead back to 13.
A 5-0 Middle Tennessee run cut Louisville's lead to 32-24 and a shot clock violation by the Cardinals gave MTSU the ball back. The Blue Raiders had plenty of momentum with 2:03 left, but they hit just one shot in the final two minutes, a three from the corner by Icelyn Elie, and trailed Louisville 34-27 at the half.
The Cardinals forced 13 Middle Tennessee turnovers in the first half, leading to a decisive 16-2 advantage in points off turnovers. The Cardinals also dominated in the paint, outscoring the Blue Raiders 28-4.
What kept the MTSU in the game in the first half were three-pointers. They hit 5 of 11 from beyond the arc to Louisville's 1 for 6. The Cardinals also missed four of five free throws in the first half.
MTSU started the second half the way it ended the first, with a three by Icelyn Elie and another by Kortni Jones.
Ahead 34-33 with just under 16 minutes left, Louisville was in trouble. The Cardinals had squandered a once-commanding lead and appeared to be out of sorts on offense.
After MTSU cut the Cardinals' lead to 38-37 with just over 12 minutes left, Louisville went on a quick 4-0 run and then traded three-point plays with MTSU, a three by Middle's Laken Leonard and layup and free throw by Schimmel.
"I felt like we were in control when we cut it to one, but then we had a couple of turnovers in a row and they changed up their defense and pressured our guards," MTSU coach Rick Insell said.
A pair of fastbreak layups, one by Bria Smith and the other by Schimmel put UofL ahead 49-40 at the 9:05 mark. After another MTSU turnover, UofL's Jude Schimmel hit a three from the wing to give the Cardinals a 52-40 lead.
The Cardinals continued to capitalize on MTSU mistakes, ballooning the lead to 61-44 with 5:40 left on a jumper by Shoni Schimmel.
Louisville continued to pull away, and Reid left the game at the 4:19 mark with Louisville up 64-44. She finished with 15 points. The Cardinals largest lead of the game was 74-49 with 1:12 to go, and neither team scored the rest of the game.