University of Louisville
MIDDLE TENNESSEE STATE
Cardinals fall 94-84 to the Blue Raiders
December 09, 2009 | Women's Basketball
Dec. 9, 2009
Louisville, Ky. - The University of Louisville women's basketball team fell Wednesday night to Middle Tennessee 94-84 in Freedom Hall for their first home loss of the season. The Cardinals were led by Monique Reid who scored a career-high 24 points on the night, while pulling down 10 rebounds for her third double-double of her career, while freshman Ashley Rainey also produced her second double-double of her career with 13 points and 11 rebounds.
The Blue Raiders had three players score 20 points or more and were led by Anne Marie Lanning, who scored 26 points, a career-high for her, hitting 8 of 13 three pointers in the game, while Alysha Clark produced a double-double with 24 points and 14 rebounds.
Middle Tennessee came out hot from the floor hitting three of five 3-pointers to take a quick 11-1 lead into the first media timeout. Louisville got back into the game using 12-3 run to cut the lead to one, 13-14, at the 12:03 mark in the first half. The Cardinals used the foul line to gain momentum throughout the first half, shooting 18 free throws off of 13 fouls from the Blue Raiders.
Middle Tennessee's lead extended back out to 10 after a 3-point shot from Jackie Pickle to make the score 26-36 at the 5:20 mark. With just under four minutes in the half, the Cardinals used an 11-4 run to tie up the game at 42-42 with 0:32 left in the half off a 3-point goal from Asia Taylor. Lanning hit a 3-pointer with 21 seconds left to give the Blue Raiders a 45-42 lead at the break.
Louisville finished the half shooting 52.0 percent from the floor, while Middle Tennessee finished shooting 42.1 percent, but had one of the best nights from behind the 3-point line shooting 44.0 percent. The Cardinals held a slight rebounding advantage over the Blue Raiders at 19-17.
The Blue Raiders continued their 3-point shooting hitting four of six 3-pointers in the first five minutes of the second half. The Cardinals battled back to tie the score twice, the last time being 50-50 with 17:36 left in the half, but Middle Tennessee quickly pulled back ahead of Louisville with a 7-0 run.
Louisville got within five points with 14:30 remaining, but were not able to get any closer the rest of the game. Every time the Cardinals went on a run, the Blue Raiders always had an answer, particularly from the 3- point line, shooting 50.0 percent from beyond the arc hitting nine in the second half. Clark hit two free throws with 6:21 remaining in the game to extend the Blue Raider lead to 14, the largest of the night and Louisville never got any closer than eight after that.
Reid tried to keep the team in the game scoring 20 of her 24 points in the second half, but it wasn't enough for the Cardinals. Louisville got to the free throw line throughout the game, but went 14-22 in the second half.
Louisville finished the game shooting 46.6 percent from the floor, while Middle Tennessee finished shooting 43.3 percent, but most of their offense came from beyond the arc, where they shot 46.5 percent hitting a new school-record 20 treys. The Cardinals finished the game outrebounding the Blue Raiders 44-32.
The Cardinals will be back in action on Sunday, Dec. 13 to face IUPUI at 2:00 p.m. in Freedom Hall.
