Second Half Surge Lifts Cards Past Norse, 89-61

Sunday, November 9

LOUISVILLE, KY

2 PM

University of Louisville

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Northern Kentucky

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Northern Ky.

Louisville

November 09, 2025 | Women's Basketball

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Tajianna Roberts tied a career high with 23 points

By: Matt Paras

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The No. 20/19 Louisville women's basketball team (1-1) used a big second half to come away with the 89-61 home-opening win over Northern Kentucky (0-2) on Sunday at the KFC Yum! Center. Louisville outscored the Norse 54-29 in the second half and shot 63.9% from the floor over the final 20 minutes to pick up its first win of the season.

Tajianna Roberts led all scorers with 23 points, which tied a career high. She was 10-for-16 from the floor, 3-for-4 from three and scored 17 of her 23 points in the second half. Reyna Scott scored in double figures for the first time in a Louisville uniform with 13 points on 6-for-8 shooting. Laura Ziegler led the team with double-digit rebounds for the second-straight game with 11 boards and she added a team-best five assists to go with nine points. Elif Istanbulluoglu added nine points and seven boards.

Louisville hit five of their last six shots to end the first quarter, including a three-pointer by Scott to beat the buzzer and give the Cards a 20-17 lead after one. Scott had seven points in the opening quarter.

The Cardinals used an 8-0 spurt over the final 2:18 of the second quarter to regain the lead heading into halftime. Louisville took a 35-32 lead into the break with Scott leading all scorers with 11 points in the first half.

The Cards had another run early on in the third quarter, scoring six-straight points and forced Northern Kentucky to burn a timeout. Louisville's run grew to 14-2 as they extended the lead to double digits. Louisville shot 10-for-18 from the field in the quarter and Roberts scored 11 points as they took a 56-48 lead into the fourth.

Roberts eclipsed the 20-point plateau in the fourth quarter with a three coming off an assist from Ziegler. The Cardinals lead swelled to over 20 points following a 22-0 sprint in the middle of the fourth quarter to put the game out of reach. Yevheniia Putra, Peyton Bradley and Rebekah Graves all scored their first career points in the final quarter.

Up next for the Cardinals will be a Big 12 foe as they host Colorado at the Yum! Center on Wednesday, November 13. The Cardinals and Buffaloes will square off at 7 p.m. ET and it will be streamed on the ACC Network Extra.