Jazmine Jones carries Louisville to win, reaches 1,000 career points

Jazmine Jones reached a career milestone and carried Louisville women’s basketball to a victory in the process.

The senior scored a career-high 26 points as Louisville defeated Duke 60-55 at the KFC Yum! Center Jan. 4 for the Cardinals’ fifth straight win. Jones surpassed 1,000 career points midway through the third quarter as Louisville rallied from a 13-point deficit to its third conference win.

“It was a game that we had to grind and Jaz stepped up, she knocked down some pull-up jump shots, she played really well,” Louisville coach Jeff Walz said. “That’s what we are going to need, we are going to need that consistency.”

When Louisville’s offense was struggling in the first half, Jones kept her team within striking distance. The 6-foot guard scored the Cardinals’ first 10 points as Duke led by double digits at the end of the first quarter.

While Jones went 6 of 9 from the field for 14 points in the first half, her teammates shot just 25 percent from the field.

“I was just being aggressive like I was the last two games,” Jones said. “I knew my teammates were going to pick it up. We just started off slow as a unit on defense, we just needed to pick it up. I knew once our defense amped up, our offense would take care of itself.”

Jones played all but 37 seconds in Louisville’s win, finishing with 10 rebounds for the third double-double of her career.

Jones didn’t know that she reached 1,000 career points until after the game, but thanked the point guards she has played with. Walz joked that Jones should thank him for playing her for four years.

“It’s an honor,” Jones said of reaching 1,000 points. “A lot of people have come through this program, a lot of great players. I’m just great to be a part of something special.”