Sports
No. 4 Louisville Hands Ohio Its First Loss, 90-33
By: Brad Friedman
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No. 4 Louisville (5-0) flexed its muscles Thursday night in a 90-33 victory over Ohio (2-1), handing the Bobcats their first loss on the year.
The Cardinals came out firing on the offensive end, shooting 53 percent from the field in the first half, in addition to dominating the battle on the boards, 29-13.
All but two players on the Louisville active roster chalked up at least one bucket in the first 20 minutes, highlighting the team’s impressive depth.
As for the visiting team, Quiera Lampkins led all Ohio scorers with five points, but Louisville controlled the pace of the first half, going into the locker room with a 43-17 lead.
Louisville kept its foot on the gas pedal in the second half, starting the second 20-minute period on a 19-7 run. Ohio kept up with Louisville with 53 shot attempts, but swarming defense from Louisville forced the Bobcats to shoot 18.9 percent from the field.
A bigger Louisville squad dominated action on the glass, outrebounding Ohio, 54-25. Both teams struggled to hold onto the ball, accumulating a combined 37 turnovers on the night. Each team also combined for 42 personal fouls, leading to 51 free throw attempts.
Shawnta’ Dyer, Shoni Schimmel, Morgan Deines and Bria Smith finished with double-digit point totals for Louisville. All but two players on the active roster contributed to the team’s 60.7 shooting percentage.
Lampkins continued to lead all Ohio scorers with 13 points on 2-of-4 shooting from the field and nine free throws. Destini Cooper and Kiyanna Black tacked on a combined eight points and eight rebounds.
Ohio travels to the other end of Kentucky to face Eastern Kentucky (3-2) on Saturday at 4 p.m.