LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- After scoring just 21 first-half points at Pittsburgh Thursday night and watching shot after shot not go in, Louisville women's basketball head coach Jeff Walz was not ready to just say shots were not falling.
"I'd say that's a little bit of an understatement," Walz said with a sly grin.
But despite seeing his Cardinals shoot 29% from the field and 7% from three going into halftime, he was just as pleased to see them start to fall in the second half. Louisville found its scoring stroke, shooting 52% as a whole and 47% from deep over the final 20 minutes, to surge past Pittsburgh 65-56.
"That's why I always tell them throughout the recruiting process, 'Of all the times we've watched you play, this isn't the first time I've seen you miss,'" Walz said. "I don't think you've ever made every shot you've taken. But we let that get to us at the offensive end. Now, I was pleased with how we defended, giving them only 28 points in both halves, and especially the first half, when we were struggling as bad as we were."
Four different Cards scored in double figures, with freshman Tajianna Roberts leading the way with 17 points. She caught fire in the 4th quarter, scoring 9 points and making three shots from beyond the arc. Senior guard Jayda Curry struggled shooting through the first three quarters, but came up clutch with 7 points and 3 assists in the final frame.
Pitt was never going to look intimidating on the schedule, as the Panthers are now 8-9 on the season and still winless in ACC play. But the longtime Louisville head coach was not expecting anything easy.
"It's a league where you got to show up," Walz said of the ACC. "Everybody's like, 'Oh, you should have blown Pitt out. You should have this, should have that.' And I'm like guys, we've come up here with Final Four teams and it's always a battle. That goes all the way back to the Big East days. So, I'm just happy to get out with a win."
The Cardinals have now found a way to win five straight games and sit at 4-1 in the ACC. Impressively, they've put together a 6-1 road record too.
"I'm really encouraged," Walz said of his team's progress. "I mean, we are a young basketball team. I know we've got some some veterans out there, but we have a lot of youth that's playing a lot of minutes.
"And that's something where, with time and continuing to get experience, they're getting better and better. That's what we have to have. We've got to just continue to put building blocks, one on top of another, and keep this thing going."
Standing in his team's way next is a Georgia Tech squad who experienced its first loss of the season in double overtime against Virginia Tech Thursday night. The 13th-ranked Yellow Jackets come to the KFC Yum! Center on Sunday as Louisville looks for its first win over a ranked opponent this season.
"It's going to be a great game," Walz said. "It's one I hope we can get a huge crowd for. I think it should be just a lot of excitement.
"Tech's been playing some really good basketball. They shoot the three extremely well, and they shoot a lot of them. And they're rebounding the ball. So we're going to have our hands full, but it's going to be a great game."
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