Louisville Defeats Georgia Tech to Complete Perfect Road Record

Press Release from the University of Louisville:

ATLANTA — The No. 10/11 Louisville women's basketball team (25-5, 15-2 ACC) passed its final road test of the regular season in the 69-50 win over Georgia Tech (12-17, 7-10 ACC) Thursday night at McCamish Pavilion. With the win, Louisville finished the regular season undefeated on the road (9-0) for the first time in program history.

Elif Istanbulluoglu led the team in scoring for the second-straight game, as she had 18 points in the win. She was one of four players in double figures on the night, joined by Imari Berry (13 points), Tajianna Roberts (12 points) and Reyna Scott (10 points). It was the 29th game this season Louisville has had three or more players score in double figures. Louisville forced 22 turnovers in the win, the eighth time they have forced 20 or more turnovers in a game.

After leaving the previous game five minutes in with an injury, Roberts was back and in the starting lineup against the Yellow Jackets. She hit the Cards first field goal of the game on the opening possession. Georgia Tech averaged just 4.7 made three-pointers per game heading into the game but came out on fire in the first quarter, hitting three of their first five shots from behind the arc to build an early lead.

Fresh off of her 20-point performance on Sunday, Istanbulluoglu carried it over to the first quarter in Atlanta. She countered the Yellow Jackets sharp shooting from behind the arc with 11 first quarter points on 4-for-6 shooting and 2-for-3 from behind the arc. The Cards closed the quarter on a 10-0 run to take an 18-13 lead after the opening 10 minutes.

Georgia Tech trimmed the lead to two but the Cardinals got active on the defensive end and led to some easy offense. Following a miss, Berry picked the Yellow Jackets pocket and turned it into a layup. On the ensuing in-bound pass, Mackenly Randolph jumped the pass and finished the layup to force Georgia Tech to use a timeout. The Cardinals continued on an 8-0 run to get their lead up to double digits for the first time on the night.

As the second was winding down, Roberts began to heat up. She hit threes on back-to-back possessions to give the Cards a 36-24 lead at the half. Roberts was in double-digits in the first half with 10 points on 3-for-4 shooting. Istanbulluoglu led all scorers with 11 first half points. Louisville forced 15 turnovers from Georgia Tech in the first half.

Louisville extended its lead to 20 in the third quarter thanks to more strong play on the defensive end. They held Georgia Tech to just 4-for-13 shooting in the quarter and forced four turnovers. They also attacked the glass in the third with five offensive rebounds and turned it into 10 second-chance points. The Cardinals took a 54-34 lead into the fourth quarter.

Georgia Tech attempted to cut into the lead in the fourth but the Cardinals thwarted any comeback attempt. With the win, the Cardinals improved to 5-0 this season coming off of a loss.

The Cardinals will head back to Louisville for the regular season finale to close out the weekend. The Cardinals welcome Notre Dame to the KFC Yum! Center on Sunday for the second meeting between the two schools this season. Sunday is Senior Day as the Cards will honor their senior class prior to the game. The game is set for a 4 p.m. ET tip and it will be broadcast nationally on ESPN2.

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