University of Louisville
Cincinnati
Schimmel Leads No. 14 Louisville Past Cincinnati, 64-59
December 14, 2011 | Women's Basketball
Dec. 14, 2011
CINCINNATI (AP) - In a physical game where both teams lost their top scorers to injuries, Shoni Schimmel scored 16 points to lead No. 14 Louisville past Cincinnati 64-59 on Wednesday.
After trailing for much of the second half, Louisville (9-2, 1-0 BIG EAST) tied the score at 55 with 2:37 left in the game and went ahead on Schimmel's 3-pointer. With less than a minute left, Bjonee Reaves' jumper pulled Cincinnati (6-3, 0-1) within one, but Cardinals forward Shawnta' Dyer responded quickly to give Louisville a three-point lead with 39 seconds remaining.
Becky Burke, who had 14 points for the Cardinals, made four free throws in the final 30 seconds to seal the game.
"It wasn't a pretty win," Louisville coach Jeff Walz said. "I thought we rushed some shots; we didn't execute. And when you do that, you're playing right into their hands."
Louisville's Monique Reid, who averaged a team-high 14.6 points per game coming in, scored three points before being helped off the court with a knee injury. Cincinnati's Dayeesha Hollins, who averaged 14.3 points per game, scored 15 before dislocating her shoulder midway through the second half.
Cincinnati grabbed an early lead but lost momentum with a 6 ½-minute scoring drought in the middle of the first half, where the Bearcats missed six shots and turned the ball over seven times.
Both teams struggled from 3 early, with Louisville going 0 of 8 and Cincinnati scoring on just one of its 10 shots from beyond the arc before halftime. Louisville led by four at the half.
"The first half wasn't all that great for us -- it just felt out of the loop and it was a weird game," Schimmel said. "But we bounced back in the second half and just got our head on our shoulders and played with control."
Cincinnati came out strong in the second half and made key 3-pointers to go up by seven with 11:37 to play. But after Hollins left the game, Louisville rallied to tie it at 46.
"Our game plan was pretty much to stop their dribble drive, stop them going to the middle and pretty much close out on their shooters," said Louisville guard Bria Smith, who finished with 12 points. "I think that we executed that better in the end part of the second half."
Louisville won its third in a row against Cincinnati and has now won 9 of the last 10 games against the Bearcats. Reaves finished with 18 points for the Bearcats, who have lost three straight.
After a 20-point loss at then-No. 10 Kentucky on Dec. 4 and the Cardinals' close win Wednesday, Louisville travels to Portland and Washington State for two more road tests next week.
"What we've got to do is get a tougher mentality," Walz said. "You have to understand you have to fight when you go on the road - that's what you have to do when you go on the road."
