Louisville Defeats Miami to Win Eighth Straight

Press Release from the University of Louisville:

CORAL GABLES, Fla. — The No. 10/11 Louisville women's basketball team (15-3, 5-0 ACC) used a big second half to come away with a 77-68 win over Miami (10-6, 2-3 ACC) Thursday afternoon at the Watsco Center. The Cards trailed at the half for the first time in a month but outscored the Hurricanes 27-12 in the third to improve to 5-0 in the ACC and collect their third ACC road win of the season.

Louisville was led by junior forward Elif Istanbulluoglu, who had the best game of her career against one of the toughest post players in the league. Istanbulluoglu scored a career-best 23 points on 9-for-14 shooting to go with seven rebounds and a career-high five assists. The 23 points is tied for the most scored by a Louisville player this season. Imari Berry scored 14 of her 16 points in the second half, including 11-straight points for the Cards in the fourth quarter. Skylar Jones added 12 points on 4-for-6 shooting and Tajianna Roberts recorded a team and career-best seven assists in the win.

It was a slow start for the Cardinals as they struggled early in the first from the field. A Reyna Scott pull up jumper in the lane ended an 8-0 run for the Canes. Cards respond with a 9-0 lead of their own to regain the lead. Louisville scored 11 of the final 13 points in the first and led 17-14 after the opening 10 minutes. The Cardinals held the Hurricanes without a field goal for the final 4:43 minutes of the quarter.

Miami regained the lead late in the second quarter after a 6-0 spurt for the Canes. Mackenly Randolph scored four straight after the Canes took the lead back but a Meredith Tippner layup with five seconds left gave the Hurricanes a 35-33 lead into the half. It was the first time since December 3rd that the Cardinals have trailed heading into the half.

Louisville came out of the half with a spark as they quickly got the lead back. A 12-0 run for the Cards gave them their largest lead of the afternoon. Istanbulluoglu was a catalyst in the run as she scored seven points over the first five minutes of the third quarter to get the Cards back in front. The Cardinals finished the quarter shooting 11-for-19 (57.9%) from the field and had a 60-47 lead. Istanbulluoglu scored 12 points in the frame while Skylar Jones added seven.

Miami got the deficit to single digits but a big sequence came from Berry to put the game out of reach. She made three-straight threes to get the Louisville lead back up to double figures. Berry scored 11-straight points for the Cards in the fourth and the Hurricanes never got any closer in the final frame.

The Cardinals return back to campus to close out the week at home this Sunday. The Cardinals will welcome the Pitt Panthers to the KFC Yum! Center on Sunday, January 11th for Kids Day. The Cardinals and Panthers will square off at 2 p.m. ET and it will be broadcast on The CW.

More Cardinals Stories