Dana Evans and Elizabeth Balogun out again for Louisville
Dana Evans and Elizabeth Balogun could have played as Louisville women’s basketball defeated Boston College 68-48 at the KFC Yum! Center Feb. 27 to clinch the ACC regular season title, but Louisville coach Jeff Walz decided against it.
Evans and Balogun, who are recovering from ankle injuries, were cleared to play by the medical staff, but the Cardinals didn’t need the two guards. Louisville (26-3 overall, 15-2 in the ACC) shot 63% from the field in the first half and outscored the Eagles by 19 points in the second quarter.
Mykasa Robinson and Yacine Diop started in place of Evans and Balogun for the second straight game.
“I was going to see how the game went,” Walz said. “When we made that big run there in the second quarter, I felt pretty good about the fact that I wasn’t going to have to play them.”
Walz is hopefully that Balogun and Evans will have another day of practice tomorrow and Saturday as Louisville prepares for Virginia Tech on Sunday. Evans and Balogun’s participation will once again be a game time decision.
“I feel a little bit better where Elizabeth is right now compared to Dana, but I have no doubt that they will both play some on Sunday,” Walz said.
Win or lose on Sunday in Louisville’s final game of the regular season, Walz believes the NCAA committee factors in injuries during the seeding process.
“If they aren’t able to go on Sunday, if things don’t go our way, I would hope they would take that into consideration,” Walz said. “If you look at what we have done this year when we have had a full roster, we basically lost at Ohio State, so I think we have done enough where the committee would give us the respect that we have earned.”
