Louisville women’s basketball won big on the road at Pitt. What we learned, and how the Cards match up with Notre Dame.
The Louisville women’s basketball team took the court for the first time in a week to take on the Pitt Panthers. It was a close game in the first half with Louisville taking a 33-27 lead into the locker room. However, the Cardinals came out in the second half and put the foot on the gas.
Louisville outscored the Panthers 49-31 to snag an 82-58 conference win. The Cards were led to the victory by Dana Evans, as she matched her season-high with 29 points. Louisville made the first basket of the game, and never looked back leading the whole way.
Here are some of my takeaways from the Pittsburgh game.
Mykasa Robinson is a baller
She might not wow you with highlight-reel offense, but Mykasa Robinson is the motor of this team.
Robinson has improved every game since she has entered the starting lineup. The junior set her season-high with 6 points on 2-3 from the field and 2-3 from the line. Robinson played 27 minutes while leading the team in rebounds with 9, assists with 5, and steals with 5
Robinson might not score in double digits, but she does the little things that help the offensive players get in their groove. Also, by creating steals and not turning it over, this is what helps the Cards push the lead.
Some say Robinson is an offensive liability, but every great team needs an unselfish player that doesn’t care about scoring. Louisville has enough scorers, so having a player like Robinson to jump-start the offense really helps.
Hailey Van Lith seems to be out of her funk
It has been a rough last month for freshman Hailey Van Lith. Thursday’s game was only the third time HVL has hit double figures since the Syracuse game on January 21st.
On Thursday, Van Lith looked better in her 33 minutes of playing time. HVL finished the game with 13 points on 5-9 shooting from the field and 3-3 from the free-throw line.
The Cards need Van Lith to get her game back to where it was at the beginning of the season. As other players step up from time to time, Louisville has to have Evans, Kianna Smith, and Van Lith as the main three offensive weapons. HVL showed at the beginning of the season she could help carry the load, and I think we will start seeing a lot more of that going into the postseason.
Louisville women’s basketball finally gets back to utilizing depth
At the beginning of the season, Louisville women’s basketball was going 11 and 12 deep almost every game. That kind of stopped at the Syracuse game.
In this span, Louisville picked up its lone loss and had three single-digit victories. The Cards also had a bad fourth quarter against UNC where they almost blew a huge lead.
Louisville has stayed in an 8-10 player rotation recently, and that’s not how they began the season. You could argue that large margins of victory earlier in the season are why they went so deep, but I think it would really benefit Louisville to keep looking to its bench players.
Louisville went 12 deep against Pitt with Malea Williams, Ramani Parker, Merissah Russell, and Ahlana Smith all getting single-digit minutes. Sticking to the 12 player rotation more in the last couple of games could help with injury and foul trouble in the tournament.
Trending: Everyone relax; Louisville basketball is just fine
A confidence building win
The Pitt game should be a really good confidence builder for Louisville.
Louisville women’s basketball led wire to wire, more players got playing time, and they increased the lead in the second half instead of letting the opponent come back.
I would have liked to see Olivia Cochran get a little more than 12 minutes and Kianna Smith get the offense going as she has of late. I am very pleased with the play of the Cards as should the rest of CardNation.
Previewing Florida State
Louisville women’s basketball returns to action on Sunday, February 21st at 2 p.m. at Florida State.
The Seminoles have been a thorn in Louisville’s side over the years. However, this is not quite the ‘Noles team of years past.
Back in January, Louisville took down FSU 84-56 behind 16 points from Kianna Smith and 15 from Van Lith.
Can Louisville put together back-to-back big games and get back on track? They will have to notch another road win to remain solidly in line for a No. 1 seed in the postseason.
Additionally, Louisville can clinch an ACC regular season title with a victory.
The game can be seen on ACCNX and you can listen to it in Louisville on 790 WKRD.
