This game stretched out 20-30 minutes longer than the typical women’s basketball game but to be fair it felt like ten times longer than that. The Cards went flat in patches again and fell behind by 11 to the Buffaloes before clawing their way back to come away with a victory.
Skylar Jones came off the bench to provide a big spark for Louisville. She scored a game high 21 points and had 5 steals and 4 rebounds. Tajianna Roberts finished the game with 16 points. Laura Ziegler had 15 points including some big free throws in the final 30 seconds of the game when Louisville’s lead was a mere 3 points. Her free throws gave Louisville their largest lead of the game with 6 points.
After the game Coach Walz said, “I thought in the second and fourth quarter we played well at the defensive end, but we gave up 68 points. That’s not too good. If you’re going to have a chance to compete you’ve got to hold people to the 50s and unfortunately we’re just not always dialed in.”
Louisville went 7-28 from the 3-point line. Coach Walz said, “We obviously were not shooting the three very well… but we kept doing it. I’m trying to get them to understand hey they’re leaving you open for a reason. They’re not going in. So stop shooting them. How about a shot fake and drive? How about getting a paint touch and dumping it to a post player?”
He recently challenged Skylar Jones to improve her body language and was pleased that she seemed to make strides forward tonight. “I was very proud of her because I thought her approach to the game was much different than it had been the first two games.” He added, “I thought Skylar’s body language was better. Her effort was better. My challenge to Skylar is going to be when you’re NOT scoring 21, when you’re NOT 8 for 15, are you still going to have that same energy?”
Skylar said, “Coming in here as a transfer it is a little like having that freshman feeling of not knowing anything but also Coach Walz and the staff have done a good job of pushing us past our limits. I have found out that I can go harder than I ever thought I could and that’s how I got 5 steals today…. I might not like it and I might dread it and I might be mad but I know in the long run it’s going to be worth it. I’m glad that’s he’s pushing us really hard and holding us to the Louisville standard.”
The Cards jump into conference play this Sunday with a road game at Clemson. The game is at 3PM and can be seen on ESPN2.
