University of Louisville
Houston
Cardinals Advance To Championship Game
March 05, 2005 | Women's Basketball
March 5, 2005
Charlotte, N.C. - The University of Louisville women's basketball team defeated Houston 56-48 in the second semifinal of the Conference USA Tournament on Saturday afternoon in Halton Arena. Jazz Covington led the Cardinals with 16 points and Katie Olson added 13 points. Covington's last basket of the game was her 1,000th career point. Covington became only the second Cardinal in women's basketball history to achieve that feat as a sophomore. She is the fourth Louisville player in men's and women's basketball history to score 1,000 career points as a sophomore, Butch Beard, Wes Unseld and Gwen Doyle were the other Cardinal greats to do the same.
The Cardinals started the second half with a basket by Covington to go up 30-20 in the opening minute. Then Houston went on a 6-1 run to cut the lead to five with just over 15 minutes remaining in the game. Olson hit a jumper to push the lead back to seven at the 13:20 mark.
Houston then went on a 13-1 run to take a 39-34 lead with 7:30 remaining in the half. Covington hit a jumper at the 7:24 mark to cut the lead to three. Kiemona Harris hit two free throws to push the lead back to five on the next possession. Covington hit another jumper spark a 7-0 run give the Cardinals a 43-42 lead with just under five minutes remaining.
Daphne Andre hit two free throws to tie the game at 43 on the next possession. Louisville then went on a 5-0 run to go up 48-43 at the 3:29 mark. Sancho Lyttle hit a jumper to get the Cougars within three but Covington hit another jumper to push the lead to 50-45 with just over a minute remaining. Andre nailed a three to put the lead to two with 1:18 left to play. Missy Taylor got an easy layup under the basket to push the lead to 52-48 with 39 seconds remaining. The Cardinals were able to hit 4 of 4 from the line to seal the victory.
Louisville finished the game shooting 46.5 percent from the field and 36.4 percent from the three-point line while holding Houston to just 27.3 percent from the field and 16.7 percent from behind the arc. The Cardinals finished the game with a 41-32 rebounding edge.
Louisville broke open a close game in the first half, holding Houston without a basket for four minutes and using a 6-0 run to go ahead 16-11 with just under 10 minutes remaining in the half. Jasmon Moore hit a three-pointer to cut the lead to 16-14 at the eight minute mark. But then the Cardinals went on a 10-0 run to go up 24-14 with just under five minutes remaining in the half. Moore hit a jumper at the 4:29 mark to stop the Cardinal run. Louisville finished the first half with a 28-20 lead.
The Cardinals finished the first half shooting 50 percent from the field while holding Houston to just 25 percent. They also shot 50 percent from behind the arc and held Houston to just 14.3 percent. The Cardinals also outrebounded the Cougars 21-18 in the half.
The Cardinals will face TCU in the final at 5:00 p.m. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN2.
