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At the start of the fourth quarter, Louisville moved fast in transition, feeding Chelsie Hall inside for a layup. But Syracuse’s Najé Murray was able to catch up with Hall, forcing her to miss the layup.

Still, UL’s Ahlana Smith trailed behind Hall, securing the missed layup off the glass. Teisha Hyman tracked back to defend Smith’s layup attempt, fouling Smith as she scored for the and-1. The 3-point play gave the Cardinals a 20-point lead, a lead they would increase to 36 by the end of the afternoon.

“We just struggled to compete on the boards there, and they scored 65 points in the paint,” acting head coach Vonn Read said. “They’re a good team. They do a really good job of moving the ball.”

Louisville (21-2, 11-1 Atlantic Coast) continued that success against Syracuse’s (9-12, 2-9 Atlantic Coast) 2-3 zone defense, winning 100-64 with 60 points in the paint. Six Cardinals finished scoring in double-digits, with Liz Dixon recording a team-high 18 points off the bench.

The Cardinals immediately got on the board with a mid range jumper from Hall, but they started to set up attempts from deep later in the first quarter. Specifically, Louisville targeted the left side of the Orange’s 2-3 zone, which normally stationed Murray. By having shooters on the wing and in the corner, Murray was unable to guard both players at the same time, and on some possessions Hyman was unable to support defensively.

Assisted by Hailey Van Lith, Hall hit the Cardinals’ first 3-pointer from the left wing. Kianna Smith scored from the same spot on the ensuing possession. And on the last play of the first quarter, Payton Verhulst freed up in the corner, letting go of the ball while Murray was still running at her to try and get a hand up. Verhulst beat the buzzer, giving Louisville a 13-point lead.

Murray said that Louisville was a “pick your poison” kind of team, meaning that it could score from 3-point range and in the paint. So in order to try and protect the paint, Murray was forced to give up deep shots.

“Louisville’s just one of those powerhouse offenses where everywhere you go, they have options to score,” Murray said. “In terms of effort, we did the best we could.”

The Cardinals also repeatedly scored on long possessions where they passed the ball around the arc before finding cutters inside. Chrislyn Carr said this was because of the Orange’s lack of communication on the defensive end, helping Louisville’s players get space in the paint.

“We messed up a little bit because our communication was off,” Chrislyn said. “We just need to be there for each other and know when to switch off.”

Specifically, Dixon and Smith were able to exploit the soft spots which were unguarded in the paint for quick layups. Following a 3-pointer from Chrislyn with four minutes left in the first quarter, the Orange’s 2-3 zone left an opening in the paint. Dixon received the ball from former Syracuse star Emily Engstler and scored an easy layup, giving the Cardinals a nine-point lead. Later in the quarter, another hole was left in the middle of SU’s zone during a Louisville inbound pass. Hall spotted the gap, directing Smith toward it for another score.

Smith finished with 16 points while Dixon was 8-for-8 from the field. Read said that matchup with Dixon revealed the strong depth of the Cardinals roster as the former All-American wasn’t even a starter.

“They just continued to bring bodies off the bench,” Read said.

In the second half, the Orange briefly brought out their full-court press after Chrislyn or another guard at the front of the system had scored a basket. This allowed them to control the shot clock, forcing SU players like Alaysia Styles and Christianna Carr to make big plays.

Christianna, who was out of her normal position at the back of the press, stole the ball from Olivia Cochran near midcourt. She immediately found Murray to cut the Cardinals’ lead to nine. Styles also intercepted the ball near the end of the third quarter, which eventually made its way to Alaina Rice for a contested layup that fell.

Styles and Christianna were also able to draw offensive charges on consecutive possessions in the third quarter. But the Cardinals continued to win the battle on the boards with 15 offensive rebounds by the end of that period. After Van Lith missed a 3-pointer, Smith rebounded the ball and found Dixon wide open in the paint for another easy layup.

By the midway point of the fourth quarter, the Cardinals had put the game away following 19 points in three minutes. The Orange took out most of their starters, which Louisville did as well, leaving Chrislyn in the game to facilitate the offense.

With two minutes left in the game, the Cardinals targeted the spot in the Orange’s zone which Murray had given up earlier. Nyah Wilson was in Murray’s position, but as Louisville swung the ball around, Wilson abandoned her spot.

Mykasa Robinson was left wide open along the left wing and hit a 3-pointer on her first attempt. Engstler stole the ball from Chrislyn on the ensuing possession and Robinson was left unguarded in the same spot, this time stepping in to hit a mid-range jumper that would bring Louisville’s lead to 37.

Published on February 6, 2022 at 4:17 pm

Contact Anish: asvasude@syr.edu | @anish_vasu