Women’s Basketball Hosts DePaul in Home Opener

Sunday, November 12

LOUISVILLE, KY

4 PM

University of Louisville

DePaul

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November 11, 2023 | Women's Basketball

It is the third time in the last four seasons the Cardinals and Blue Demons will square off

By: Matt Paras

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Fresh off the 77-59 win over Cincinnati in the season opener on November 6, the No. 17/15 University of Louisville women's basketball team returns home for their home opener. The Cardinals are set to welcome the DePaul Blue Demons to the KFC Yum! Center on Sunday, November 12. This will be the first home game for the Cards since February 26 and it will be the KFC Yum! Center debut for several of the newcomers to this year's roster.

The Cardinals return to an arena they have had tremendous success since the doors opened in the 2010-11 season. Over the last 13 seasons, the Cardinals are 192-31 at the KFC Yum! Center. During that span, the Cardinals have won at least 11 home games every season. In six of those seasons, the Cardinals lost one home game or less. Over the past six seasons, Louisville is 87-7 at home.

The Cardinals have also been successful in the home openers at the Yum! Center and during Walz's tenure. The Cardinals are 14-2 overall in home openers under Walz and 11-2 in home openers at the Yum! Center. The Cardinals have won each of their last seven home openers.

In the season opener, a number of Cardinals got their regular season debut. All eleven players played in the opener and 10 different players scored. Eight of the 10 players scored six points or more against the Bearcats.

Graduate transfer Sydney Taylor led the Cards with 16 points and scored eight of her 16 in the fourth quarter to close out the Bearcats. Including the GLOBL JAM games back in July, Taylor has scored in double figures in four of her last five games. Kiki Jefferson made an impact in a number of categories with nine points, five rebounds, one assist, one steal and one block. Jayda Curry joined Taylor in double figures with 13 points while Nina Rickards led the team with three assists and two steals to go with six points and five rebounds. Elif Istanbulluoglu made her collegiate debut against the Bearcats and had seven points, three boards, one block and one steal.

The Cardinal returners also had strong season debuts on Monday. Senior Olivia Cochran led the team with 10 rebounds, three assists and added seven points. It was her second-straight game with 10 or more rebounds dating back to last year's Elite Eight and the 16th time in her career she has had 10 or more. Fellow senior Merissah Russell tallied seven points, two assists and a rebound. Redshirt-sophomore Alexia Mobley set career highs with six rebounds and four points.

Date: Sunday, Nov. 12
Time: 4 p.m. ET
Site: Louisville, Ky. | KFC Yum! Center (22,090)
TV: ACC Network (Eric Frede, play-by-play; Christy Tomaskutty, analyst)
Radio: 93.9-FM The Ville (Nick Curran, play-by-play; Cortnee Walton, analyst)
Last Meeting: W, 81-67 (Dec. 21, 2022 at Chicago, Ill.)
Series History: Louisville is tied 17-17 (Home 10-5, Away 6-10, Neutral 1-2)

ABOUT THE BLUE DEMONS

DePaul enters the matchup with a 2-0 record on the season after wins over Western Michigan (77-53) and Stonehill (99-52). The Blue Demons went 16-17 last season and were 8-12 in BIG EAST play. The Blue Demons return just two starters from last year's team and those two players are the only two returning that played in the matchup between the two teams last season in Chicago. Graduate student Anaya Peoples is the most experienced player returning for the Blue Demons and she has seen the Cardinals a fair share after playing the first three seasons of her career at Notre Dame. In her career, she has faced Louisville five times and did not play in the two meetings during the 2019-20 season.

Series History - This will be the 35th meeting all time between the two schools as the series dates back to the 1982-83 season. The Cardinals and Blue Demons were both conference foes in Conference USA and the BIG EAST. The all-time series is tied at 17-17 but the Cardinals have an 8-4 edge since Jeff Walz has been the head coach. All-time the Cardinals are 10-5 against the Blue Demons in games played at Louisville. This is the first meeting between the two schools in Louisville since March of 2016.

Last Meeting (Dec. 21, 2022) - The RV/RV Louisville women's basketball team (10-4, 1-0) jumped out to a fast start and held on for a 81-67 win over NR/RV DePaul (9-4, 2-0) at Wintrust Arena Wednesday night. With the win, Louisville finished the four-game road trip a perfect 4-0 and have won five games in a row heading into the Christmas Break. Chrislyn Carr was the leader for the Cardinals as she scored a team-high 21 points and set a career high with 17 rebounds. It was her fourth career double-double and her first since she joined the Cardinals. The 17 rebounds were the most in a game by a Louisville player since Myisha Hines-Allen had 18 on January 18, 2018, against Pitt.

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