University of Louisville
FLORIDA
Women's Basketball Hands Florida a 79-62 Defeat
December 02, 2007 | Women's Basketball
Dec. 2, 2007
Louisville, Ky. - The Louisville (4-2) women's basketball team used a big second half and a staggering defense to defeat Florida 79-62 Sunday afternoon at Freedom Hall. Freshman Keshia Hines came off the bench to lead the Cards with 25 points on 11 of 13 shooting, and Angel McCoughtry scored 22 points and grabbed eight rebounds along with nine steals.
Louisville trailed 38-32 at halftime, but they came out of the locker room on fire. The Cards scored the first 19 points of the half, not allowing the Gators to score until Depree Bowden hit a jumper with 13:00 left.
Louisville extended their lead to 14 on a jumper by Hines, making it 59-45 with 8:51 to go. Florida then went on a 7-0 run, capped by Sha Brooks' 3-pointer to pull within seven points. That would be as close as the Gators would get, as Louisville went on an 8-2 run to put the game away.
Louisville was dominant inside, overpowering Florida and outscoring them 56 to 26 in the paint. The Cards forced the Gators into 31 turnovers on the day by using traps and full-court pressure, and allowed only Marshae Dotson to reach double figures in scoring. Dotson finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds, her fourth double-double of the season.
The first half was a bit of a see-saw affair, with both teams trying to establish inside play while struggling with turnovers. Both teams committed 15 turnovers in the half. Louisville had trouble scoring, but McCoughtry kept the Cards close by scoring 18 of her 22 points in the first half. Florida took advantage of a high number of trips to the foul-line, hitting 10 of 11 from the stripe.
The Cardinals finished the game shooting 47.1 percent from the field while holding Florida to just 34.4 percent shooting. Louisville held a slight rebounding edge, outrebounding the Gators 45-41.
The Cardinals will host Xavier in Freedom Hall on Sunday at 2:00 p.m.
