Louisville improves to 13-5 with win over Pittsburgh

After a blip in their record against Duke, Louisville has now won eight of their last nine games with two of those wins coming over the Pittsburgh Panthers. The first matchup between these two teams was on December 18, 2022. Between the two contests, the Cardinals scored a combined 153 points with Hailey Van Lith contributing a total of 38 of those points.

Unlike their December matchup, Hailey Van Lith did not lead all scorers in last night’s contest. She was edged out by Pittsburgh’s Amber Brown, who finished with 20 total points. With Pittsburgh’s second loss to Louisville this season, they still remain winless in the ACC, now sitting with an 0-5 record in inner conference play.

Louisville improves to 4-1 in ACC play and improves to a 25-2 in the history of the overall matchup between these two ACC foes. Despite the less than stellar first quarter from the Cardinals, trailing 18-12 going into the second quarter, they turned it around in the second half with an impressive 27-17 outing in the third quarter.

Pittsburgh’s Marley Washenitz opened up the second half with a good mid-range jumper, which extended the Panthers lead to eight. But, Louisville quickly answered with a layup from Olivia Cochran. And followed it up seven seconds later with a good jumpshot from Morgan Jones.

Coach Walz must have had a successful halftime pep talk as his team came out of the locker room closing Pittsburgh’s gap fairly quickly. The Cardinals trimmed their lead to a one point advantage with 6:43 left in the quarter. But would ultimately tie the game at 38 a piece with 5:59 left to go.

Louisville finished the quarter with a four point lead heading into the fourth quarter and would end up closing the door on the Panthers again. Next up for the Cardinals is Virginia Tech, as they continue ACC play, on January 12, 2023 at 7:00 PM EST in Blacksburg, Virginia.