Final Four: 4 Keys to Victory for Louisville WBB

The Louisville women’s basketball team is set to take on South Carolina in what is expected to be a raucous environment in Minneapolis. The game is scheduled for  7:00pm EST tip.  In order for Louisville to advance to the title game, there are four key areas of this game where they must excel.

1. Limit Aliyah Boston

The Gamecocks will have the nation’s best player on the floor. Naismith award winner Aliyah Boston causes a number of problems for opposing defenses. She’s an athletic big who can rebound the ball and run the floor with guards. South Carolina leads the country in offensive rebounding. Louisville’s Olivia Cochran and star transfer Emily Engstler will battle with Boston in the post to try and prevent those second opportunities on the glass.

2. Let Van Lith Cook

Sophomore guard Hailey Van Lith has been lighting up the scoreboard this entire postseason for the Cards. The bucket has been a bottomless pit for Van Lith considering she is averaging over 20 points during Louisville’s tournament run. Dawn Staley will surely have a defensive plan to try and slow Van Lith down, which is why it will be imperative for her to get her other teammates involved.

3. Win the turnover battle

Coach Jeff Walz and Louisville need to gain the advantage in the turnover battle against South Carolina. Limiting second chance points was just one key to this game. The Cards need to be able to steal a few extra possessions to keep the Gamecocks on their heels. A few steals followed by a layup or transition 3 could really ignite the entire squad.

4. Play up to the moment

There have been a few teams in recent years that have made deep tournament runs. However, no one could finish the job when the lights were the brightest. To win games like these players have to stay poised under pressure and trust their supreme level of coaching, which I think Jeff Walz provides because he’s been on this stage before in the past.

This game will be wire to wire if Louisville is able to win it. For that reason alone Louisville’s execution must be on point. A win tonight and the Cards will find themselves playing for a national title!