Louisville prepares for road game against Boston College
Louisville women’s basketball looks to extend its eight-game winning streak with its first of two consecutive conference road games, facing Boston College in Chestnut Hill Jan. 16. The Cardinals are 5-0 in Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) league play for the second straight year.
After defeating Wake Forest 75-61 at the KFC Yum! Center last Sunday, Louisville (16-1) turns to Boston College with the ACC’s best scoring margin in conference games. The Cardinals are +18.8 points and have won three of their five conference games by 14 or more points.
Louisville coach Jeff Walz has some familiarity with Boston College coach Joanna Bernabei-McNamee. The two coached together as assistants on Maryland’s 2006 national championship team.
“Joanna is a very good basketball mind,” Walz said. “She was a great player herself back in college.”
Boston College (9-7 overall, 2-3 in the ACC) has five double figure scorers led by Taylor Soule, who averages 12.8 points per game. Walz compared Boston College to Wake Forest because neither team quits when faced with a deficit.
“They play hard, I know everybody says that, but they truly compete on every possession offensively and defensively,” Walz said. “We have to understand that, that we are going to be facing a team that they aren’t going to take two or three possessions off.”
Cameron Swartz, Marnelle Garraud, Makayla Dickens and Milan Bolden-Morrison have all made more than 20 shots from behind the arc for Boston College. Walz is impressed with how the Eagles are playing.
“They are going to push the ball in transition. They aren’t afraid to shoot it as soon as they have an open look, so we really have to be on point with our defensive transition and then rebounding the basketball,” Walz said.
Boston College is outrebounding opponents by 6.5 rebounds per game and has six players with 30 or more defensive rebounds this season. Walz said his team must commit to rebounding in the road game.
