Box Score LOUISVILLE, KY.- The Belmont University women's basketball team fell 73-50 to No.5/8 Louisville Sunday afternoon at the KFC Yum! Center in front of 8,357 fans. The Bruins hung tough with the nationally ranked Cardinals in a hostile road environment and outrebounded them by a margin of 52-32.
Kylee Smith (Alpharetta, Ga.) led the Bruins with 13 points, knocking down a pair of three-pointers while Frankie Joubran (Goodrich, Mich.) corralled a game-high 12 boards in the hard-fought loss. Belmont trailed by just nine points in the second quarter, but Louisville's length and athleticism allowed it to push the tempo and capitalize on Bruin turnovers. The Cardinals shot 47.7% (31-of-65) from the field compared to the Bruins' 31.7% (20-63).
"This is an NCAA Tournament-caliber game and for a school our size our dream is to win our conference and play in the Tournament. That's what this atmosphere replicates. With the 16 teams that get to host home games, these are the type of teams were going to see and these are the type of the crowds were going to have. It's good for our kids to have a barometer on what it's like to play against the best teams in the country," remarked Head Coach Cameron Newbauer after the game.
Sophomores Darby Maggard (Larwill, Ind.) and Jenny Roy (Brentwood, Tenn.) each scored eight points for the visiting Bruins while junior Sally McCabe (Mt. Juliet, Tenn.) tallied six points and registered seven rebounds.
After returning to his home town of Fort Wayne on Friday, Newbauer journeyed back to another place he's quite familiar with in Louisville, as he spent the 2012-13 season on Coach Walz' staff.
"It's great to be back here. Louisville is probably one of the best fan bases in America. Any time you can have 8 to 10,000 people show up on a Sunday afternoon against a mid-major, that's really special. You look at what Coach Walz has done here, this could be his best team," added Newbauer.
The Cardinals were led in scoring freshman Ciera Johnson and sophomore Asia Durr who each recorded 18 points. Belmont's strong defense was able to hold Louisville's Myisha Hines-Allen to just four points. The junior forward Hines-Allen is the reigning ACC Player of the Year and is considered to be a Preseason All-American candidate amongst many national publications.
Louisville, who trotted out a starting five that featured four McDonald's All-Americans, led 26-16 after the first quarter as the left-handed guard Durr poured in 11 points in the first 10 minutes of action. The Bruins jumped out to an early 4-0 advantage, but a 17-4 run from the fast-paced Louisville offense loomed large in the frame. The first quarter featured three lead changes and two ties, and the Bruins nearly held the deficit to single digits trailing by just seven with less than 30 seconds to play in the stanza, but a buzzer-beating three by Durr gave the Cards a 10 point cushion.
In the second quarter, Durr continued her hotshooting as she scored seven points, and the Cards shot 9-of-19 from the floor. Belmont would struggle a bit offensively, scoring nine points in the second quarter on 4-of-16 shooting, but found itself trailing by just nine with under five minutes to play in the half. A deep Smith three brought the score to just 34-23 in favor of Louisville, but the Cardinals would finish on a 15-2 run and carried a 47-25 edge at the intermission. Smith led all Bruins with eight points at the break.
"Defensively, well we told our players that Asia Durr is one of the those players that you can't be upset when she hits totally ridiculous shots and makes awesome plays, because she's one of the best players in America. There's so many pieces to the puzzle that Jeff has put together that create so many problems to guard. When they share the ball and play together, they can be really good," said Newbauer.
The third quarter would sway in the favor of the Cardinals as they again scored 19 points, compared to the Bruins' 12. Smith remained in a rhythm offensively, registering five third quarter points while Louisville's Ciera Johnson scored six. Belmont trailed 66-37 heading into the fourth.
The Bruins would cut into the deficit in the fourth quarter when they outscored Louisville, 13-7. Off the bench, Sierra Jones (Huntsville, Ala.) and Paris Lawson (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) each scored four points in the quarter. Belmont limited the high-powered Cardinal offensive to just 20% shooting in the final ten minutes of play.
Belmont's effort and intensity never waivered as it competed for the duration of the contest, diving on several loose balls in the fourth quarter. Belmont's scrappy play was evident in the fact that it outrebounded a strong, athletic Louisville team by 20.
"This is one of those games where you get to see if your kids are going to fight or sit down and take it. I was proud of the fight and the effort we had today. It wasn't always the best and smartest fight, but we fought and competed for forty minutes," added Newbauer.
BU resumes its 2016-17 campaign when it travels to Troy on Wednesday, Nov. 16 for a noon Central time tilt with the Trojans.
