The UConn Huskies took on the Louisville Cardinals; the Huskies were playing well until the fourth quarter. Then, Louisville outscored UConn 27-19 over the game’s final ten minutes to win 69-64.
Smith and Van Lith
Kiana Smith and Hailey Van Lith both scored 16 points apiece. Smith shot 7-of-14 from the field, grabbed four rebounds, and dished out three assists. Van Lith shot 5-of-14 from the field and 2-for-2 from beyond the arc. Her two three-point shots came a crucial part of the game. The Cardinals were down 52-51, and Van Lith put them ahead 54-52 with a three-point. Next, she hit another three to extend the lead to 57-52.
Smith said how Lousiville liked for the defense to fuel their offense.”We’ve talked about it all year how our defense has to fuel our offense,” Kianna Smith said. “And we talk about getting three stops in a row often. So I think that was our focus, getting rebounds, and then just keeping our composure on offense. We knew that they were going to make a run and we were going make runs and we just had to have poise on offense.”
UConn
With Evina Westbrook struggling, only scoring six points on 3-of-12 shooting from the field, freshman Caroline Ducharme scored 24 points and shot 50% from the field. She also made 3-of-9 three-point shots. Ducharme also grabbed eight rebounds. The freshman played very aggressively and gave UConn the scoring punch they needed. Christyn Williams scored ten points and struggled from the field like Westbrook.
Lousiville did a great job shooting from beyond the arc and at the free-throw line. The Cardinals shot 53% from beyond the arc and made 17-of-20 free throws for 85%.
UConn will not win many games with Westbrook and Williams struggling; down the stretch of the game, it looked like Huskies did not know what they wanted to do. They must fix that if they’re going to be successful.
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