No. 2 Louisville trounces SU women’s basketball

The No. 2 Louisville Women’s Basketball Team dominated No. 15 Syracuse after a weak-looking Orange team could not finish their shots and fell 76-51.

Syracuse shot a dismal 32.3 percent, going 20-62 from the field. Louisville shot around 40 percent, making baskets when it mattered most. The Cardinals also outrebounded the Orange, 46-38.

Louisville set the pace early with superstar Asia Durr hitting the first 10 points for the Cardinals, while Syracuse trailed with only four points. With four minutes left in the first, the Cards led the Orange 18-4, and it did not look hopeful for Syracuse.

The second quarter followed a similar pattern, with the Orange only hitting five of their 17 field goals for a total of 13 points. At the half, Louisville led 51-30. Durr put up 12 points in the first half alone, and Arica Carter had eight. Meanwhile, Syracuse’s Amaya Finklea-Guity, Miranda Drummond and Kiara Lewis were tied for scoring leader at the end of the half — with six points each.

Durr finished with a game-high of 15 points, below her average of 20.8 per game. Louisville’s Dana Evans and Kylee Shook each finished with 12.

Lewis dropped 13 for Syracuse, followed by nine from Drummond — who went 3-3 in three-point shots — and eight from Finklea-Guity.

Louisville looked like it wanted it more, and at times Syracuse appeared rattled, with players putting up shots out of their range and not using the shot clock to their advantage.

The Orange finished with 17 turnovers, while the Cards finished with 12. Additionally, Louisville scored a whopping 25 points off those Syracuse turnovers. Cuse finished with three points off from Louisville turnovers.

With 4:49 left in the fourth, the Cardinals took their biggest lead of the game, 76-46, over the Orange. Louisville dropped six points in the fourth quarter, but it didn’t matter. The game was over at the end of the third when the Cards led 70-42.

Syracuse has been up and down lately, and to get a bid in the NCAA Tournament they’ll have to finish the regular season strong. The next few weeks feature matchups with No. 9 NC State, No. 4 Notre Dame and No. 24 Florida State.

It’s imperative that this Orange team tightens up the loose ends before facing any ranked team, but especially Top 10 teams.

The Orange will take on Boston College at the Carrier Dome Sunday at 2 p.m.