The pain of an injury-plagued season for fans of the University of Louisville’s women’s basketball team is eased a bit by the encouraging story of Shelby Harper, a 5-foot-4 walk-on guard.
With all the injuries on her team, she is averaging about 35 minutes per game. Shelby, who finished with 15 points, connects on her fifth three-point basket in Tuesday’s game against Cincinnati in the video:
Cincinnati won 74-68 in overtime. Paul Sykes’ report is here.
Harper has been an encouraging aspect of Lady Cards basketball this year…one of several bright spots in an otherwise average season for these young birds.
The Lady Cards simply haven’t been able to find ways to close out opponents and hang onto leads late. Some of this is because of the talent level drop from last year but some of it is in the way the players are reacting to opponent’s rallies.
Walz is frustrated with the team’s inconsistancy and mistakes. It’s probably the most intense coaching effort that he’s had in a season but also probably the most frustrating from the standpoint that sometimes it seems the players forget everything that they’ve worked on in practice. The injuries have no doubt been the defining nature of this season but there are other factors that have come into play as well. Most of all, he just hasn’t been able to “get thru to them” on a consistant basis.
No doubt…good times and a lot of success is ahead for the program in the future. Until then, it’s a game to game roller coaster from a team that has so much potential but fails to live up to it on a regular basis.
I was there. She was great. Good game.