Life on the road in the Atlantic Coast Conference hasn’t been easy for the University of Louisville women’s basketball team so far.
Host Duke downed the Cardinals 66-58 Monday night in a Top 15 showdown in Durham, N.C.
The loss dropped eighth-ranked UofL (19-3 overall; 7-2 in the ACC) to 2-2 away from home and into a third-place tie with the 15th-ranked Blue Devils (16-6, 7-2) in its new conference.
Duke had solid starts to both halves, used its height advantage inside and held the Cameron Indoor Stadium visitors to 35.4 percent shooting to earn the victory.
Six-foot-five freshman wing Azura Stevens tallied a team-high 17 points, to lead five in double digits, and grabbed a team-high tying nine rebounds to lead the Blue Devils, who shot 46.9 percent (23 for 49) from the field. Also for Duke, 6-4 sophomore forward Oderah Chidom scored 14 points, 6-1 redshirt freshman guard, and Kentucky native, Rebecca Greenwell added 13 points and 6-3 senior center Elizabeth Williams contributed 11 points (all in the second half), nine rebounds and a game-high five blocked shots.
Senior forward Sara Hammond led Louisville with 17 points and eight rebounds while freshman forward Mariya Moore tallied 14 points and senior guard Jude Schimmel scored 11.
Duke never trailed and led by as many as 17 points before the Cards closed the margin late.
The Blue Devils raced out to an 11-2 lead before UofL got it together. The Cards cut their deficit to two a few times in the first half, but Duke led by six (25-19) at intermission.
The Blue Devils then outscored Louisville 17-6 to start the second half, taking a 42-25 lead with 13:52 to play. But once again the Cards came back. Hammond’s layup with 4:18 left trimmed Duke’s lead to 54-46. Hammond, however, took a hard fall on the play and briefly left the game. Schimmel hit a free throw in Hammond’s sted to make it a seven-point game. Williams answered on the other end, but then so did Bria Smith for UofL. That was as close as the Cards would get, though. They missed their next 10 shots until Schimmel hit a 3-pointer with 30 seconds to play. Louisville connected on two more 3’s in the last 25 seconds, but still finished just 7-for-22 from long range (31.8 percent) in the game.
The Blue Devils outrebounded UofL 43-35 to overcome 22 turnovers.
The Cards next host Pittsburgh at 2 p.m. Sunday at the KFC Yum! Center.
Photo courtesy University of Louisville Women’s Basketball Facebook Page
