Recap: Louisville defeats WKU in season opener

Cardinals use dominant second half for first win of the year

Elizabeth Balogun and Elizabeth Dixon showed their new team their scoring ability while Dana Evans reminded everyone of her playmaking prowess.

Louisville women’s basketball defeated Western Kentucky (WKU) 75-56 in the season opener at the KFC Yum! Center Nov. 5 as the Georgia Tech transfers combined for 25 points while Dana Evans scored a team-high 19 points.

Balogun, who along with Dixon was declared eligible in September to play for Louisville after transferring in the offseason, made her first five three-point attempts. Balogun finished with 15 points and three assists while Dixon added 10 points and 13 rebounds. Jazmine Jones had 10 assists, eight rebounds and eight points for Louisville.

Louisville coach Jeff Walz said his team is still adjusting with plenty of new faces on the roster, but did good things in the Cardinals' first win of the season.

"Overall we played well, but our energy level was not where it needed to be on the defensive end of the floor," Walz said. "i expected it to be a good basketball game."

Balogun carried the Cardinals in the opening six minutes of the first quarter. Balogun made Louisville’s first basket on a corner 3-pointer.

The sophomore hit two more shots from behind the arc in a 57-second span, giving Louisville a 15-8 lead with 4:47 left in the first quarter, forcing a WKU timeout.

"I was comfortable, we went over the plays during shoot around," Balogun said. "It was shots they drew up for me, it was part of the play and it went in."

Jones pushed in transition after a rebound and delivered a well-placed bounce pass to Evans for a layup to give Louisville a 21-11 lead with 1:54 left in the first quarter.

Louisville went 9 of 13 from the field in the first quarter to hold a 21-13 lead, but WKU had six offensive rebounds in the opening 10 minutes.

The Cardinals stretch their lead to double digits midway through the second quarter, getting a boost from Norika Konno. The freshman guard had a transition layup and midrange jumper in the first four minutes of the second quarter.

Evans made a midrange jumper to give Louisville a 29-17 advantage with 4:44 left before halftime, but the Cardinals still struggled to keep WKU away from the offensive glass. The Lady Hilltoppers had nine offensive rebounds in the first half.

"Some of that was not following through on a box out," Walz said. "We had a couple times, even in the second half, we got the shot clock down to two or three, great contest, and then watched, they went after the ball and got the rebound. Things like that we can clean up and change."

After a Louisville turnover, Sherry Porter scored in transition and was fouled, completing a three-point-play to cut WKU’s deficit to 29-23, but Bionca Dunham, who finished with 10 points, scored on Louisville’s next possession.

WKU closed its deficit to six again with a minute-and-a-half left, but Balogun made another 3-pointer with 1:28 left in the first half.

"I was impressed with how she shot the basketball," Walz said. "She had some good looks and her teammates did a nice job of finding her when she was open."

The Cardinals scored on their first three possessions of the third quarter, a layup by Jones, 3-pointer from Evans and basket by Dunham on an assist by Jones, for a quick 7-0 run to return Louisville’s lead to double digits at 41-25.

After Dee Givens hit a 3-pointer to end the run, Louisville scored on its fourth straight possession on a layup by Dixon.

Balogun made her fifth shot from behind the arc on Louisville’s next possession to extend the lead to 46-32 with 6:29 left in the third quarter. The Cardinals scored on five of their first six possessions after halftime.

"We showed spurts where we could be really good," Evans said. 

Evans went coast-to-coast in transition for a contest layup and was fouled, converting a three-point-play with 3:18 left in the third quarter to give Louisville a 51-39 advantage. Evans scored again in transition on an assist from Balogun with less than a minute left in the third quarter.

Evans made two 3-pointers in the first three minutes of the fourth quarter and found Konno for a transition layup to extend Louisville’s lead to 64-48 with 6:54 left.

Jones scored in transition with 4:49 left to give Louisville a 70-49 lead.