Jeff Walz came close to apologizing to University of Louisville women’s basketball fans after his team was defeated by South Florida 63-60 in the closing seconds to nail the lid on a losing regular season record.
“I promise you this will not happen again,” he told the crowd of approximately 5,000 people attending the final regular season game ever at historic Freedom Hall. “I’m very proud of this team. They have fought so hard despite so much adversity and injuries. We will be back.”
USF’s Alysson Speed hit her eighth three-point shot with four seconds remaining to give her team the win. The Lady Cards’ record is 13-15, and the last regular season game is at Rutgers on Monday. Here’s the shot:
The best player on the floor was U of L’s Monique Reid, finishing with 33 points and eight rebounds during her 39 minutes.
Seniors Chauntise Wright and Brandie Radde were honored in pre-game ceremonies.
Tough way to end the Lady Cards stay in Freedom Hall. Credit to seldom used freshman Rachel Story for clamping down Speed’s 3-point skill breifly…but Louisville rallied back several times in this game to take the lead and could not put the Bulls away.
As Jeff said, next year will be different…and in a positive way.
I was amazed by how the USF players kept getting the same shot over and over and over.
Speed got every 3 except the last one from virtually the same wing angle, probably no more than three feet apart. 23 got three or four open jumpers from a foot inside the free throw line. And the quick guard drove down the left side of the lane over and over on penetration. That kind of defense (?) made me think I was watching the guys in one of their lousy games. I really understand Walz’s frustration. He came as close to slaming his players as I have heard in a while. And they deserved it. We didn’t show much effort on one end of the court and as a result played great efense (no D).
Betcha next year is way different.