University of Louisville
RUTGERS
Women's Basketball Defeats Rutgers 56-45 on Saturday Evening
January 29, 2011 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 29, 2011
Box Score | Quotes | Notes | Photo Gallery 
Louisville, Ky. - With a 17-0 run in the second half, the Louisville women's basketball team came from behind to defeat Rutgers 56-45 on Saturday evening in the KFC Yum! Center in front of a crowd of 15,061, the third largest home crowd of the season for the Cardinals.
The Cardinals were led in scoring by junior Monique Reid with 17 points and six rebounds while freshman Shoni Schimmel added 12 points and six assists. Rutgers was led by junior April Sykes with 20 points. Louisville improves to 14-8 overall and 5-3 in the BIG EAST. Rutgers falls to 12-8 on the season and 5-2 in the BIG EAST.
The Cardinal defense started out sluggish as they fell behind 8-2 early with two quick 3-pointers from the Scarlet Knights within the first two minutes. Louisville was able to cut into the Rutgers lead with a 3-pointer from Gibbs and two free throws from Reid to get within one (8-7).
The Scarlet Knights were able to hold the Cardinals scoreless for just over three minutes extending their lead to 14-7 at the 14:13 mark behind two baskets from Monique Oliver. With a 3-pointer from Schimmel, Louisville was able to tie up the game for the first time at 16 with 10:29 left in the half.
The Cardinals took their first lead of the game as Reid knocked down a free throw at the 6:20 mark. Both teams could not get an offense going for a three minute until the Scarlet Knights scored the five straight points to regain the lead with just over four minutes remaining in the half.
A 3-pointer from Antonita Slaughter cut the lead to 23-22. Both teams traded baskets the remainder of the half for 27-26 Rutgers lead at the break.
Louisville finished the half shooting 26.9 percent from the floor and 26.7 percent from beyond the arc. Rutgers shot 64.7 percent from the floor and 40.0 percent from beyond the arc. The Cardinals were outrebounded 15-12 by the Scarlet Knights.
The second half started out the same as the first half with Rutgers coming out of the locker room and knocking down two quick baskets in the post, jumping out to a 31-26 lead. Louisville responded with two straight baskets from Reid to cut the lead to one.
The Cardinals took their first lead of the second half at the 14:12 mark as Schimmel drove down the lane, putting in a floater to make the score 34-33. The Scarlet Knights took back the lead at the 11:21 mark off a 3-pointer from Sykes for a 42-39 lead.
Louisville responded by holding Rutgers scoreless for almost 10 minutes going on a 17-0 run, for the sixth longest run of the season. The run received contributions from five different players, including 3-pointers from Becky Burke, Slaughter and Schimmel.
The Scarlet Knights finally broke their scoreless drought at the 1:33 mark with a 3-pointer from Sykes, making the score 56-45, which would end up being the final score of the game as the Cardinals ran out the clock to win their fifth conference game, matching their total from last season.
Louisville finished the game shooting 37.7 percent from the floor and 30.8 percent from beyond the arc. Rutgers shot 51.4 percent from the floor and 35.3 percent from beyond the arc. Both teams finished with 27 rebounds.
The Cardinals will be back in action to take on No. 19 Georgetown on Tuesday, Feb. 1 at 7:00 p.m. in the KFC Yum! Center. The game is a Pink "Ladies Night" game, so all fans are encouraged to wear pink for the game.
