Louisville women’s basketball uses second-half run to advance to second round. How the Cards can improve moving into their Wednesday showdown with Northwestern.
The Louisville women’s basketball team finally got to suit up for an NCAA tournament game in 2 years. As deep and skilled as the Cardinals are, they are very inexperienced in the tournament. Only 2 Cardinals have had NCAA tournament experience, Dana Evans and Mykasa Robinson. This fact really showed at the beginning of the game as Louisville struggled against the Marist defense. Of course that Marist defense did only allow 51 ppg, 34% from the field, and 26% from three on the season.
Not only did the offense struggle, but the Cardinal defense struggled against the cutting offensive style of Marist. Louisville saw itself trail at the end of the first quarter 15-12. The Red Foxes saw their lead get as big as 9 points in the first half. Louisville chipped away and took a 29-24 lead into the half. Jeff Walz made the halftime adjustments needed, and the second half was way different than the first. The Cardinals went on a 20-1 run in the third quarter without star Dana Evans on the floor. Louisville finally wore Marist down and got a 74-43 victory to move on to the second round to face 7 seed Northwestern.
Here are my takeaways from the first round win:
Dana Evans really struggled to open the tournament
Evans brought her struggles from the ACC tournament to the NCAA tournament. Evans didn’t get her first field goal till 1:16 left in the first quarter. At halftime, Evans had more turnovers at four, than made field goals at three. The senior was 3-10 at halftime with 8 points. Evans did however end the game as the Cards second-leading scorer with 15 points. Evans was 6-16 from the field and 1-8 from three. Dana also had 1 assist to 4 turnovers in the game. Louisville was able to power past Marist without Dana, but the deeper the tournament goes the harder that’s going to be for Louisville.
Hailey Van Lith impressed in her NCAA tournament debut
Freshman Hailey Van Lith really transitioned to the college game, and the Jeff Walz style of play seamlessly. Van Lith came out like a house on fire when the season started, but that all changed after the COVID pause. The freshman got in double figures a few times, but it was hard to consistently find her shot. Van Lith showed signs of her early season success during the ACC tournament against Wake Forest. HVL hit 6 threes and scored a career high 24 points.
Fast forward to the first round Monday night, and Louisville saw Van Lith show up in a big way again. Van Lith scored a game high 17 points. HVL shot 7-11 from the field, and 2-5 from three point range. This is the Hailey Van Lith Louisville needs to show up every game for them to be serious title contenders. Not only for her offense, but also her defense. The trap press Coach Walz puts in when Van Lith and Mykasa Robinson is on the floor together is deadly.
The Louisville bigs did not show up to the NCAA tournament
Louisville has really relied on the inside game this season to jump start the outside game. Freshman Olivia Cochran and breakout junior Liz Dixon has been the catalyst. On the season Cochran is averaging 10 points and 6 rebounds, while Dixon is averaging 8 points and 5 rebounds. You can also throw red shirt freshman Ramani Parker in the mix as she has seen her minutes go up, and she is averaging 2 points and 2 rebounds.
On Monday night the trio went 2-7 from the field for 4 points. The trio also grabbed a total of 11 rebounds total between the three. Dixon and Cochran have put up numerous double-doubles this season, and Parker has played an extended roll late in the year. The inside game is something Louisville really relied on this season, especially in games where the outside game was struggling. With all the talented bigs in the tournament this season the Cards really need this trio to get their game back.
Louisville women’s basketball: Looking ahead to Northwestern
Louisville’s second round matchup will be with the 7 seed Northwestern Wildcats. The teams have only met twice with the Cardinals winning both matchups.
Northwestern entered the NCAA Tournament on the heels of a 5th-place finish in the Big Ten. The Wildcats took down Illinois and Michigan in the conference tournament before falling to Maryland in the semifinals.
The Wildcats could provide a tough match-up for the Cards the way Marist did. In three of its last four games, Northwestern has allowed 42, 49, and 51 points. However, the Wildcats allowed 82 to a Maryland team that is comparable to Louisville.
It would behoove Louisville to get out to a better start in this one, and that could start with Dana Evans. Louisville has looked to its All-American to steady the ship in big games, and this match-up should be no different.
The second round game can be seen Wednesday March 24th at 5pm on ESPN2, and can also be heard in Louisville on 790 WKRD.
One thought on “Louisville Women’s Basketball: Reliving Marist, previewing Northwestern”