LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The women's basketball teams at Louisville and Kentucky are consistently excellent, usually come into their rivalry game nationally ranked, and regularly feature some of the top players in the nation.
And for 40 minutes against each other, they play intense, physical, ugly basketball. They may play beautiful games the rest of the season. When they play each other, it's hand-to-hand combat. The latest slugfest, after the series took a year off for COVID, took place on Sunday at the KFC Yum! Center, and it was true to form.
No. 7 Louisville held off No. 14 Kentucky 64-58, getting some big late baskets by Ahlana Smith to outscore the Wildcats 11-4 in the final 2:47.
It was the fifth straight win in the series for Louisville, which won its eighth straight game overall to improve to 8-1. Kentucky fell to 6-3.
"I thought we competed," Walz said. "I thought we did a great job just trying to grind things out offensively. It wasn't the prettiest of nights, but we continue to just get down in a stance and try to guard -- especially in that third quarter, we only allowed one field goal. And then they get to the free-throw line and make for four free throws. Now, again, it's not like we tore it up in the third quarter offensively ourselves, but when you're playing a game like this, that's how it's going to be. I did not expect 95-90 game but it was it was great effort by everyone."
Kentucky trailed by nine points early, but Louisville could never get more separation, and the Wildcats had some success with offensive isolations to take a 33-32 lead to the half. It would then take Kentucky 6 1/2 minutes to score for the first time in the quarter, but Louisville could only manage 7 points itself in all that time.
The Cardinals led by 8 with 2:07 left in the period, but again Kentucky refused to let them get away. An 8-2 run pulled Kentucky within one early in the fourth quarter, and it was a close game the rest of the way. The Wildcats put a head in front on a Dre'una Edwards jumper, leading 54-53 with 3:37 left.
But Louisville didn't panic. Ahlana Smith drove into the paint and scored. Hailey Van Lith scored a fast-break layup, then Smith drove to the right baseline and scored a layup to put the Cardinals up 5 with 1:41 left. It was a gap Kentucky couldn't close.
"At halftime, I mean we led for 17 minutes in the first half and then just let it get sloppy at the offensive end," Walz said. "We were up I think 38-30 and then just could not execute at the offensive end. So we just talked about that at halftime. And then we talked about how we have to keep defending because we lost them a few times in transition, a couple of trips where we just did not play good sound defense. But then I thought our third quarter was just remarkable."
Chelsie Hall, a Vanderbilt transfer and a veteran of matchups against Kentucky, led all scorers with 15 points. Van Lith and Ahlana Smith added 13 points each. Edwards and Treasure Hunt led UK with 14 points each and Robyn Benton added 13. Kentucky All-American Rhyne Howard finished with 9 points but shot just 3 of 13 from the field.
"Yeah, coming from the SEC I've played Kentucky quite a few times," Hall said. "So it was nothing new, but just knowing that I'm on a team that has a rival, I mean, it's a big game. It's exciting. It's fun to play. And so I was definitely excited coming in. Rhyne is a great player. So we just knew coming in that we had to lock her down and hold her to however many points that could get the job done."
Louisville outscored Kentucky 21-9 off turnovers, creating 21 Wildcat miscues. The Cardinals also outscored UK 18-8 off the bench, with Ahlana Smith providing much of that spark.
"Her effort is what we needed. Her athleticism as well," Walz said. "She did a great job of getting over in help and recovery. And that's what we need. When she plays like that, she's capable of doing what she did. It's not like she was 9-for-11 from the field, you know, she was 6-11, two good shots -- had a huge pull up in transition there late in the fourth quarter, as well. I'm just really happy for her and I'm hoping she'll use this to continue to get better."
Hall said Louisville was expecting an intense, physical game. Mykasa Robinson and Olivia Cochran both drew technical fouls, as did Kentucky coach Kyra Elzy. Cochran left the game with a concussion and didn't return.
"I think the biggest thing for me was just understanding that this game is so much more than just up and down," Smith said. "It means a lot to the state of Kentucky. And I felt like I had to match that energy and I felt like when my number was called, I just wanted to make sure I was ready, and I was ready tonight."
Louisville will welcome Eastern Kentucky to the KFC Yum! Center Thursday night. Walz says he's going to try to arrange a public showing of Louisville's Final Four volleyball matchup against Wisconsin. On Sunday, the Cardinals travel to Connecticut.
Kentucky is back in action Friday night against Morgan State in Memorial Coliseum.
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