LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – On a night when the University of Louisville women’s basketball program honored its seniors, a couple of freshmen provided a major spark to give the Cardinals a 78-52 over Clemson in their home finale.
Tajianna Roberts scored all but one of her game-high 19 points in the second half, and Izela Arenas came off the bench to add 14. That supplemented double-doubles for a couple of players who were honored – Olivia Cochran with 11 points and 10 rebounds, and Jayda Curry with 15 points and 10 rebounds – improving Louisville to 20-8 overall, its 15th straight 20-win season.
Louisville still has work to do to earn a double-bye in the ACC Tournament. After Florida State’s upset at Notre Dame, Louisville is in a four-way tie for third in the league. The Cards will play Sunday at No. 3 Notre Dame in a game that will feature an appearance from ESPN’s Game Day. The Fighting Irish have lost two straight after winning 19 in a row.
Louisville has now won 14 of its past 17 games after getting off to a 6-5 start.
Their start against Clemson was a bit slow on Thursday night. The Tigers shot 50 percent in the first quarter and led by one at the break. The teams went back and fourth in the second quarter, and Louisville led by one at halftime.
Jayda Curry reacts after a driving score to force a Clemson timeout during Louisville's Senior Night win over Clemson.
In the locker room, Walz urged his players to pick up the tempo, and put them into a full-court press to accomplish that. Louisville looked like a different team.
After Clemson tied the game at 35 early in the quarter, Louisville went on a 14-3 run to take control. Nyla Harris had six points in the run and Roberts had four.
“I thought we did a much better job of dictating tempo,” Louisville coach Jeff Walz said. “. . . It’s not like we guarded them bad the first half, we held them to 30, but we were chasing them a lot more in the first half, instead of dictating where they're going to go. . . . We just had to get more possessions in the game. That's why we came out and pressed some starting the second half. We needed to get to a faster pace game.”
And instead of letting off the gas once it had a double-digit lead, Louisville hit the accelerator. The Cards scored the first 11 points in the fourth quarter and a three by Roberts completed a 14-2 run, and 12 of the points were hers.
That pushed the lead to 69-48, and insured that Walz could give curtain calls to his fourth and fifth-year players – Curry, Ja’Leah Williams, Cochran and Merissah Russell. Asked about his 15th straight 20-win season, Walz reflected back.
“I'd love to be 26-2 right now, or 27-1, you know,” Walz said. “For about four years, that's what we were used to. So, I understand it. But I think if you look at this ballclub, from the start of the year to now, the improvement that we've made is remarkable, and it's because each player put the time in and wanted to get better. . . . I think we have a ton of potential. I mean, that's a dangerous word, you know, because what are you going to do with it? We've got to get a few kids healthy. . . . (Notre Dame) is going to be a great game. We have to go up there and play extremely hard and play well and execute and take care of the basketball. But we're looking forward to it. This is an exciting time of year, and we’re playing good basketball.”
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