The lights were bright, maybe too bright, for the showdown between the University of Louisville women’s basketball team and Duke.
Following a week of attendance hyping, the Cardinals were unable to find the basket in the opening minutes. Falling behind 14-1, struggling to get into the game, and when they do, they are unable to maintain momentum. A missed free throw at 0:001 sealing a 59-58 Louisville loss to the Blue Devils.
All the chatter about the game did result in a nice crowd of 10,553, far from any attendance record. All the extra hype may have been better focused on doing what made UofL the nation’s sixth-ranked team. A bit too much hype, falling short, unable to deal with the extra distractions.
Louisville was clearly the superior team in the second half, ready to dominate if the game goes into overtime. Too much energy expended maybe. Imari Berry unable to connect on that second free attempt.
Not Berry’s fault, she had brought them within two points with a couple of threes. Plenty of blame to go around. Too many missed layups, missed block outs, careless passes. The bad start putting doubts in their minds, the catching up too exhausting, still lacking confidence when they finally got the lead in the second half.
Time to dig deep, not wonder who will get the hot hand on a particular night. Put it all together. Play with the confidence you have earned, demonstrate the ability to play with any team in the nation.
