The Louisville women’s basketball team is set to begin a season-long four-game road trip this weekend with a familiar foe as they travel to Lexington to take on Kentucky. The Cardinals and Wildcats square off for the Battle for the Bluegrass and Sunday’s matchup will be aired nationally on ESPN at 1 p.m.
The Cardinals are coming off a 105-32 win over SIUE this past Tuesday as they set a program record in the first half. Louisville scored 62 points in the first half, the most points in any half in program history. They were lights out from the floor, shooting .662 percent after making 43 of their 65 shots. That shooting percentage is the second-highest in any game under head coach Jeff Walz’s tenure at Louisville. The +73 scoring margin is also the second-best in Walz’s 16 years at the helm.
Junior guard Hailey Van Lith eclipsed the 1,000-point mark with a lay-up late in the third quarter. She is the 32nd player in school history to score 1,000 points or more in their Louisville career and the 15th player to hit 1,000 points during Walz’s time at Louisville. Van Lith leads the team with 20.0 points per game, a mark that is second in the ACC and 21st nationally.
Graduate guard Morgan Jones had a big game against the Cougars, scoring 17 points and set a career high with eight steals in just 17 minutes of play. Five of her steals came in the first quarter as the eight total is tied for the most steals by an ACC player in a game this season and is tied for sixth nationally. She is the first Cardinal player to have eight steals in a game since Jude Schimmel had eight on December 21, 2012 against Wagner.
Date: Sunday, December 11
Time: 1 p.m. ET
Site: Lexington, Ky. | Rupp Arena (23,500)
TV: ESPN (Dave O’Brien, play-by-play; Carolyn Peck, analyst)
Radio: 93.9-FM WLCL (Nick Curran, play-by-play; Cortnee Walton, analyst)
Last Meeting: W, 64-58 (Dec. 12, 2021 at KFC Yum! Center)
Series History: Louisville trails 22-34 (15-11 home, 6-20 away, 1-3 neutral)
Series History w/Walz: Louisville leads 8-6 (5-2 home, 3-4 away)
ABOUT THE WILDCATS
Kentucky will be the seventh of eight NCAA Tournament teams from a season ago that the Cardinals are facing in the non-conference portion of the schedule. The Wildcats went 19-12 last season and won the SEC Tournament to earn a No. 6 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Cats season ended in Bloomington as they were upset by the 11-seed Princeton in the first round. In 2022-23, the Wildcats are 7-1 this season with their only loss to Virginia Tech at the Baha Mar Hoops Pink Flamingo Championship. Jada Walker leads the Cats with 15.4 points per game and she is one of three players to average double-digit points. Ajae Petty leads the team with 6.3 rebounds per game and Maddie Scherr has a team-best 6.2 assists per game, a mark that ranks 16th in the NCAA.
Series History – This will be the 57th meeting for the Battle for the Bluegrass and the Wildcats have a 34-22 series advantage. This will be the 15th matchup between the two teams since Jeff Walz took over at Louisville and the Cardinals have an 8-6 advantage over that time. Louisville has won the last five games against the Wildcats dating back to the 2015-16 season (The teams did not meet in the 2020-21 season). The Cardinals are 6-20 all-time in games played in Lexington but are 3-4 in those games during Walz’s tenure.
Last Meeting (Dec. 12, 2021) – Ahlana Smith and Hailey Van Lith each made two late baskets and No. 5 Louisville held off No. 14 Kentucky 64-58 on Sunday to beat their in-state archrivals for the fifth straight time. A moment of silence was held before the game to remember victims from Friday night’s storms in Mayfield. Louisville’s athletic department also teamed with the KFC Yum! Center and the Kroger grocery store chain for a bottled water drive. Smith hit a go-ahead jumper with 2:47 remaining. Chelsie Hall added three free throws in the final 17 seconds as the Cardinals (8-1) won their eighth consecutive game. Kentucky (6-3) had rallied from a 49-42 deficit to lead 54-53 on a jumper by Dre’Una Edwards with 3:37 left. Smith gave Louisville the lead and Van Lith added a layup off Emily Engstler’s block. Smith’s layup and Van Lith’s jumper provided a 61-56 cushion before Hall sealed it at the foul line. Hall finished with 15 points, while Smith and Van Lith had 13 each. Louisville shot just 40% but made 8 of 13 in the final quarter while its defense stopped Kentucky down the stretch.
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For the latest on Louisville women’s basketball, visit GoCards.com, or follow the team’s Instagram account at @LouisvilleWBB, Twitter account at @LouisvilleWBB or on Facebook at facebook.com/louisvillewbb.
