LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – With four freshmen on the court, with leading scorer Jayda Curry sidelined by a shoulder injury, with sixth-year forward Merissah Russell also sidelined and senior transfer point guard Ja’Leah Williams fouled out, the University of Louisville women’s basketball team needed a youth movement to advance to its 11th straight ACC quarterfinal.
And that’s what they got. After losing a three-point lead late in regulation, Louisville’s freshmen regrouped and scored nine of the Cardinals’ 10 overtime points in a 70-68 victory over Clemson to advance to a matchup with Duke at 7:30 on Friday in the Ally ACC Tournament in Greensboro, N.C.
Clemson tied the score at 60 on a three-pointer with just over four seconds remaining in regulation. Louisville could’ve put the game away. It missed a late free-throw. It didn’t foul when up three in the closing seconds. Even after Clemson’s make, it rushed the ball in bounds and when coach Jeff Walz called timeout, the Cards couldn’t advance the ball.
Still, when the team came back to the bench before overtime, Walz’s message was for his players to get excited.
“Be excited,” Tajianna Roberts told the ACC Network after the game. “The more excited team wins.”
Roberts must have been really excited. The freshman scored seven points in the extra period, and classmate Mackenly Randolph added two, part of her career-high 11 points.
Roberts finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Williams finished with 16 points and 12 rebounds before fouling out in regulation. The Cardinals didn’t shoot it well (42 percent for the game) and were outscored 24-3 from three-point range. But they dug in on defense, held Clemson leading scorer Loyal McQueen to 12 points and 4-of-15 shooting, and bludgeoned the Tigers on the boards 41-26.
“I was really, really pleased with our kids,” Walz said. “We did not shoot the ball very well. But we had some kids in situations and playing a lot more minutes than they played during the season with the injuries we have and was really happy for them, the way they competed. . . . Taj played 40 minutes, Ja'Leah played 37, and both of them had a double-double. Just great effort by everybody. I'm proud of them.”
In the locker room after the game, Walz was shown in an ACC all-access segment talking to his team. He told them to get food and get to the room. No visiting with family with a 7:30 shootaround in the arena awaiting. And the shooting practice, he noted, was important.
“I’m a big believer in prayer,” he said. “But it’s not good when you’re shooting if you’re praying at the same time. You have to put in the work.”
Randolph played 31 minutes with her dad, former NBA standout Zach Randolph, sitting courtside. And the Cards got a major lift from Izela Arenas, daughter of former NBA star Gilbert Arenas, who scored nine points and went 4-4 from the field, while taking over defensive duties in the second half on McQueen, when Williams got into foul trouble.
“I thought Izela was fantastic tonight.” Walz said. “We were able to move her over onto McQueen, and that allowed us to get Ja'Leah off the ball. That helped, too, because that took a lot of pressure off of her to where McQueen has it in her hands probably 80 percent of the time, 85 percent of the time to make the play, and it was just going to be a matter of time before she would have fouled out if Ize had not done such a great job, and we felt confident to keep her on the ball.”
Walz said he considered fouling in the closing seconds of regulation while up three, but he had so many freshmen on the floor, and he had it happen last season when his team gave a foul and a referee called it intentional – awarding free throws and the ball. He instead instructed his team to play a switching defense and give up nothing uncontested, but defenders got hung up in a screen, and Clemson hit a good shot.
Still, Walz saw signs of growth. After missing a free-throw at the end of regulation, Randolph buried two with 38 seconds left to take the Cards from down one to up one, and they did not trail again.
“She is a competitor,” Walz said. “She's really starting to come into her own offensively and defensively. She wants to learn the game. She's only going to get better and better.”
Next up for Louisville is No. 11 ranked Duke (23-7). Louisville’s women were the only visiting team, mean’s or women’s to win a game in Cameron Indoor Stadium this season with a 70-62 victory on Feb. 20.
The status of Curry and Russell remains uncertain, and Walz wasn’t offering details on their injuries in his postgame news conference.
“They're just injured,” Walz said. “They're injured, but I'm not going to go into detail. I think Jayda may have had a hangnail on her third toe, and she was out. 'Riss, what did 'Riss do? Was she trying to get her food and slit her finger or something? Guys, I'm not going into what's wrong with our kids. Unfortunately, they're just not able to play. It's a day-by-day thing, so we'll see how Jayda is tomorrow, how 'Riss is tomorrow, and hopefully they might be able to play.”
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