It’s the kind of game that will make you dream of what’s possible in March. Louisville trailed for most of the game, including trailing by 13 points in the third quarter, but they did not give up the offense and fought back, going on an 8-0 spurt to end the quarter. At the beginning of the fourth quarter, the Cards took their first lead. NC State didn’t give up, however, and actually got an offensive rebound with 11 seconds left and could have had the ball to win the game, but instead took an ill-advised quick shot. The Wolfpack seemed to run out of energy when Louisville got a rebound and was fouled, making free throws to send the game into overtime. In the end, the Cards won 88-80.
As always, it was a great team win, but today, when things looked bleak, one player in particular put the team on her back. Ivan Ribery came off the bench to score a career-high 33 points, grab 12 rebounds and 3 steals. Skylar Jones came off the bench and scored 17 points. McKenley Randolph performed well in the final period, scoring 12 points.
Coach Walz said, “It was a gutsy performance. I’m really proud of these kids. We were obviously very, very bad in the first quarter but got a little bit of energy back at halftime…We could have stood on the pedestrian bridge in Louisville in the first half and I’m not sure any of our kids could have thrown the ball into the Ohio River…At one point we were 0-11 from three and we ended up 5-19, but what we did was we fought.”
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Coach Walz praised Imari Berry: “She stepped up. Honestly, she’s still a kid, and if I can get her to take 20 shots a game, I hope that motivates her to keep going.” When talking about Skylar Jones, he said: “She made some great plays in critical moments – especially the three-pointer at the top of the key.”
He concluded: “When they announced the top 20 players in women’s basketball, I told them in the locker room that none of our players were one of them… but we have a great basketball team… a courageous team.” He added that he told them to “learn to embrace it and smile. If you’re not excited about Imari Berry right now, then shame on you because this is going by so fast and this is truly a special group… It’s a great team of people.”
Tatiana Roberts was sidelined with an injury late in the game. Coach Walz said she sprained her ankle. However, the Cards have a bye week, so hopefully she’ll have time to recover and be ready for Boston College on Jan. 25 at 2 p.m. at the Yum Center. The game is available on ACC Network Extra.