A press release from the University of Louisville:
Louisville, Kentucky — The University of Louisville women’s basketball rebounded with a 79-67 victory over Syracuse at the JMA Wireless Dome on Sunday afternoon. Trailing by 2 at halftime, the Cardinals took advantage of a strong third-quarter performance to regain the lead and didn’t look back as they won their seventh road game of the season. The win snapped a two-game losing streak and gave the Cardinals their seventh ACC win of the season.
Neela Harris led the Cardinals with a career-high 18 points, three blocks and six rebounds. Mykasa Robinson had a career-high 12 assists and tied a career high with five steals, seven points and seven rebounds. Those 12 assists were the most by a Cardinals player since 2015. As a team, Louisville had a season-high 25 assists on 31 field goals. Krislin Carr had 14 points and a season-high eight assists.
It’s a new starting lineup for the Cardinals, as Norika Konno and Harris earn their first career starts. Robinson is also in the starting lineup for the fourth time this season. The Orange started with a 6-0 lead, but the Cardinals pulled one back. Louisville forced seven turnovers from Syracuse and finished the period on a 6-0 run for a 15-13 lead. In Harris’ career start, she scored six points in the opening 10 minutes.
The Cardinals extended the score into the second quarter. Louisville made two more turnovers and scored the first six points as Syracuse called a timeout at 1:51 of the second quarter. The Card team hit five consecutive goals in the second quarter, extending their lead to double digits. Syracuse rallied on a 19-2 run to regain the lead with 1:34 left in the quarter. Louisville tied the game at 5-0, but Syracuse scored the final goal of the first half to take a 36-34 lead at halftime.
Nine different Cardinals scored in the first half, with Harris and Carr leading the team with six each. Louisville made 14 turnovers and had nine tackles in the first 20 minutes. Robinson led the Cards with five assists and three steals in the first half. The Cardinals had 11 assists on 15 layups in the first half.
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It was back and forth for most of the third quarter, with neither team able to extend their lead. In the last minute of the quarter, the Cardinals went on a 7-0 run and took a 61-54 lead at the end of the third quarter.
The Cardinals started the fourth quarter on a 14-2 run and extended their lead to 19 points with five minutes left. Liz Dixon broke through the 1,000-point layup at 4:58 of the quarter. The lead reached a game-high 21 points in the fourth quarter as the Cardinals wrapped up the win.
The Cardinals return to campus for their farewell week. Louisville will resume on Sunday, February 5th when it welcomes North Carolina to KFC Yum! center. The Cards will have a Pink Game promotion against the Tar Heels at 12:00 PM ET and will air nationally on ESPN2.
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