The Virginia women’s basketball team turned in the game of a decade Sunday, walking away with a shocking 72-59 upset over the University of Louisville. Someone or something had ratcheted the Cavaliers up to another level.
Emotionally charged from the beginning, the ACC upstarts were riding high on a combination of adrenaline forces. They had lost five of their last six games, they were playing the No. 8 team in the country, and it was Senior Day for a team with a 7-9 record in the conference.
Add to this a massive amount of muscle and bulk and some uncharacteristic shooting accuracy, and the UofL women were in trouble from the beginning. Also helpful were Virginia’s 27 of 33 attempts at the free throw line, compared to 15 of 21 for UofL. An ambush lay in store for anyone who played the Cavaliers in Charlottesville Sunday.
Louisville trailed by only one point at halftime but only because it is a very good basketball team. Usually the law of averages will catch up with emotionally-hyped teams, but Virginia was unaffected, continuing to connect on a variety of circus shots during the second 20 minutes.
Emmonnie Henderson would keep the Cardinals close in the second half when she scored eight of her team high 13 points. At one point, she would emerge from a scramble under the basket, pulling the ball out of the hands of a fallen Virginia player and tossing it in the basket.
The UofL women managed to hang with the Cavaliers until Emmonnie Henderson collected her fifth foul at the 5:55 mark, with her team trailing by five points. UofL would never seriously contend after her departure.
No one could blame the UofL coaching staff for tossing the game film in the circular file. Or for salivating for another shot at this Virginia team in the ACC tournament.
I watched much of the second half, they seemed to play well, just shot poorly. And, that won’t happen every night. Go LadyCards.
Still, ending the regular season, its first in the ACC, with a 24 and 5 record is acceptable. Not bad. Not bad at all. Go Cards!