Louisville Advances Over Vermont 72-52

At the end of the first half the score was 32-28 in Louisville’s favor. Two players on Vermont’s team, Keira Hanson and Nikola Priede, combined for 24 of those 28 points. In the third quarter the Cards held those two players to a total of 6 points. There’s your ballgame.

Mackenly Randolph did it all for the Cards today. She had 20 points, 11 rebounds, and 3 assists. After the game she said, “I feel very comfortable. It’s March and tournament. It’s my favorite time of the year. I’m just glad we pulled out this win. And my team, we played really good.” Laura Ziegler had 12 points and 7 rebounds. Imari Berry had 10 points and 7 rebounds.

Coach Walz credited the defense for the win. “I thought eventually it wore them down some. And like I said, in the first half we got the lead to 9, I think, at one point in time, and just couldn’t put the put-way punch or however you want to say it. You’ve got to credit them because they made the shots when they needed to when we got some momentum going.”

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Tajianna Roberts said, “We’re a great offensive team. Like, we can score anytime. But our biggest thing is we have to figure out how to come up with stops. I think in certain games, we’re scoring the ball, but we’re just going back and forth. Us as a Louisville team, we have to figure out how we can get a stop. I think that’s just the intentionality and the focus that we have been working on.”

Coach Walz praised Mackenly’s play: “She’s as good as there is being able to use her body. You kind of call it bully ball. She likes to put her shoulder down and will create some contact and does a really nice job of it. And then she finishes. She had six offensive rebounds in the game. I think three of them were her own on that one shot. But she ended up with a double-double, but she’s always around the ball. It’s not like she’s out-jumping everybody.”

He said, “It’s just one game at a time. You’re trying to make sure that they understand the importance and the honor to play in this tournament. Not everybody gets to do it. And when you get the opportunity, don’t take it for granted. That’s really what we’re trying to make sure we show our kids. And I was proud.”

Louisville will take on the winner of Alabama/Rhode Island on Monday.