Head Coach Jeff Walz's Weekly Blog
December 16, 2008 | Women's Basketball
Dec. 16, 2008
Louisville, Ky. - 16,337
You might ask what that 16,337 stands for? Well let me explain, it was the number of sold tickets at our game against UK on Sunday afternoon. We were able to set a new state of Kentucky and Big East PAID attendance record in Sunday's game. It was an incredible atmosphere and I would like to say THANK YOU to everyone that came out and showed their support for Louisville Women's Basketball.
It was just an awesome day! When the team came back into the locker room with 36 minutes left on the clock, I heard them talking about the size of the crowd and how excited they were. I made sure to let them know they had a chance to show many first time fans what makes our game so special. They did exactly that! We opened the game by trading baskets and then we finally decided to defend. The score was 11-9 at the 12:53 mark in the first half and we went on a 20-5 run over the next 10 minutes. We were leading 31-14 with 2:45 left in the first half and then allowed Kentucky to go on a 7-2 run to close the half. We took a 12-point lead into the locker room, but I was hoping we would put them away over that final 2:45.
We started the second half with a quick basket but we did not defend like we wanted and our lead stayed between 10 and 14 for the first 11 minutes of the second half. We finally pushed the lead to 18 on an offensive put back by Candyce Bingham with 7:57 left in the game. We stretched it out to a 21-point advantage with 3:49 to go and went on to win by 16. I was very proud of our effort even though we did not shoot the ball extremely well from the 3-point line. We finished the game with four players scoring in double figures led by Angel McCoughtry's 31 points and 9 rebounds. Candyce Bingham pitched in 14 points and 12 rebounds while Monique Reid and Deseree Byrd each added 12 and 10 points respectively.
This week we will take a few days off as our team takes finals and we will be back on the court this Sunday, Dec. 21 against Vermont at 2:00 p.m. I am excited to have a few days off to let some players get rested. Then we will be able to get into the gym to work on a few things we need to get better at on both ends of the floor.
Until then....Be Good, Be Safe and Be Yourself!
Go CARDS!!!
Coach Walz
