Aggressive Curry leads Cards to rock Hurricanes 74-56

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — Anyone around women's college basketball has known Louisville guard Jayda Curry is a scorer.

She brought that reputation as an all-league honoree from California. The senior has shown flashes of her shooting ability in spurts. But in Thursday night's 74-56 win over Miami, Curry dropped a season-high 21 points to continue doing what her head coach Jeff Walz has been pushing her to chase ever since she became a Cardinal: Be an attacking scorer.

"This is exactly what I've been trying to get her to do for a year and a half now," Walz said. "I'm constantly trying to probe her to be more aggressive, to look to attack. It doesn't mean you've got to take 20 shots, but sometimes, she just hides. And she's too talented of a player to do that."

The past three games have seen Curry come out of her shell. She has scored 49 points over those three victories, putting up at least 14 points in each win. The 21 points against Miami are the most she has scored in a regular season game at Louisville.

"Credit to my teammates," Curry said. "I feel like we do a really good job of just feeding the hot hand, whether it's Ja'Leah (Williams), Taj (Roberts), Imari (Berry) has had her games where she's hot and we find her. So again, I just think it's the team we have. The players on our team that we have allows me to, when I am hot, keep shooting and be aggressive."

This scoring streak also comes at a time where Curry has been in the starting lineup. She initially entered it at Boston College because according to Walz, senior Merissah Russell experienced a death in her family, and joined the team late in that road trip. So far, the former Golden Bear has not just taken advantage of her chance, but looked to get going early.

"I was happy because she did it in the beginning of the game, and not just when we're up 20 or down 20," Walz said. "When you're down 20, everybody can attack. It's like well, what do you got to lose? You're up 20, everybody can look to shoot.

"But when it's a two or four-point game, are you willing to take those shots? And I was proud of her, because I thought she did tonight and that's what got us a lead, is her ability to to attack at the moment and take good shots," Walz said.

Currently, the guard is shooting 41% for the season, which is a career high. Her confidence is picking up, which helps her stay on the attack.

"My confidence is definitely up," Curry said. "When you have the whole bench telling you to shoot, everybody believes in you. So, that definitely helps."

"And she's been in the gym," Louisville guard Ja'Leah Williams quickly added.

Clearly, Williams has pushed her Cardinal teammates in there to keep improving on the defensive end. Against her former team in Miami, the South Florida native tallied 8 points, 7 assists, 7 rebounds and 4 steals while intensely leading a stellar defensive effort. The Hurricanes had their worst scoring and shooting performances of the season against Louisville.

"Honestly, I was nervous," Williams said of facing her old squad. "My guards, they told me that they had my back no matter what. It was very different being on the other side. But as the game continued to progress, it went away. I think I was just out there having fun, smiling and enjoying the game."

She was one of three Cards to finish with at least two steals, as the team finished with 11 for the game. Louisville is now at five straight games with double-digit steals and finally has a performance where a Power Five opponent shot worse than 40% from the field.

"We were much better, much more intentional with how we were trying to guard," Walz said. "We didn't give up as many straight-line drives. We made kids shoot over us and score."

"Honestly, we know our offense will come," Williams said. "But our main goal was defense, turning them over and getting the ball out quick. So, I think as a team, we did a very good job of staying on pace and staying with the main goal."

Now, Louisville is 2-1 in ACC play and riding a three-game winning streak to Wake Forest on Sunday, who is currently 7-6 on the season.

"Everybody in this league can win," Walz said. "You have to come prepared to play. And the last time we went to Wake, we got beat, and that was with a team that went to the Elite Eight. So, we don't take anyone for granted."