Louisville Blows Away Miami in Penultimate Regular Season Game

Hailey Van Lith tallied 25 points, Liz Dixon finished with a double-double and Mykasa Robinson nearly tallied a triple-double.

Press Release from the University of Louisville:

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — With ACC Tournament seeding on the line in the final week of the regular season, the Louisville women's basketball team (21-9, 12-5) battled out a 71-57 win over Miami (17-11, 10-7) Thursday night at the KFC Yum! Center. Facing their largest deficit of five points with 6:53 left in the second quarter, the Cardinals took the game over with a 21-3 run that spanned into the second half. Louisville's lead grew to 15 points and the Cards never looked back as they won their 12th conference game of the season.

Hailey Van Lith led all scorers with 25 points on 9-of-17 shooting with four rebounds and two assists. It is the sixth-straight game she has scored 17 points or more and the eighth time this season she has scored 20 points or more against an ACC opponent. Fresh off her seventh career double-double, Liz Dixon tallied 13 points and a game-high 10 rebounds for her second double-double of the season. It is the first time since her freshman season at Georgia Tech that she had back-to-back double doubles. 

Mykasa Robinson stuffed the stat sheet once again with a career-high 12 points, tied a career high with nine rebounds and led the team with seven assists to go with a block and a steal. Over the past seven games, Robinson is averaging 7.7 points, 7.3 assists, 7.0 rebounds and 2.3 steals per game. She has led the Cardinals in assists in each of the last seven games.

It was back and forth to start the first quarter as the game was tied twice and the lead changed twice over the first five minutes of action. The Cardinals held an 18-15 lead after the first quarter due to some strong shooting from the Cards. Louisville was 7-for-14 from the floor and 3-for-4 from three in the opening quarter. Van Lith scored eight points and was 3-for-3 from the field.

A couple of runs from both teams occurred in the second half as the Hurricanes went on a 6-0 spurt to start the quarter and take the lead. Louisville responded with a 15-0 run of its own and held the Hurricanes scoreless for six minutes to regain the lead. Robinson converted a fast-break layup to extend the Cardinals lead to 30-24 with two minutes left in the quarter and forced the Hurricanes to call timeout. The Cardinals nearly held the Hurricanes scoreless for the final 6:53 of the quarter before Miami made a basket with 15 seconds left. Robinson converted another layup as time expired and the Cardinals went into the half with a 36-27 lead.

Van Lith reached double figures with 16 first half points on 6-of-9 shooting and was 3-for-5 from three. Coming off her first double-double of the season, Dixon had nine points and seven rebounds at the half.

In the third quarter, both teams were making shots from distance. At the media timeout in the quarter, Miami was 3-for-6 from three and Louisville was 3-for-5 from behind the arc. Following the media timeout, Louisville went on a 7-0 run to take its largest lead of the night, 54-40, and forced Miami to call a timeout. The Cardinals made six of their last eight shots to close out the quarter. Louisville was 9-for-15 from the field in the third as it held a 59-47 lead heading into the fourth.

Miami attempted to get back in the game in the fourth quarter, taking the deficit to 10 points a few times in the quarter. The Cardinals always had an answer for the Hurricanes when they got it within 10 points and never let the lead get into single digits. Louisville held the Hurricanes to just four points over the final six-plus minutes of the game. The Cards won their sixth game in their last seven and held an opponent to 60 points or less for the fourth time in the last six games

The Cardinals will stay on campus for their final game of the regular season as they take on a familiar foe. Louisville will welcome Notre Dame to the KFC Yum! Center just 10 days after playing them in South Bend on Feb. 16. It will be Senior Day for the Cardinals as Morgan Jones, Chrislyn Carr, Josie Williams, Liz Dixon, Norika Konno and Mykasa Robinson will all be honored prior to the game. The Cardinals and Fighting Irish will square off at 12 p.m. ET and the game will be aired nationally on ESPN.

(Photo via Cindy Rice Shelton - Louisville Report)

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