LOS -- Playing in the opening game of the first round of the Women's NCAA Basketball Championship, the 11th seeded BYU women's basketball team (23-10) lost to the 6th seeded Louisville Cardinals (27-7), 80 to 54 Saturday at the Galen Center in Los Angeles.
Louisville started strong from the opening tip, taking a 7-0 lead. Senior center Dani Wright scored the first two Cougar points by making a layup with 17:34 left in the half. BYU struggled to make baskets in the opening minutes of the game, shooting 16.7 percent in the first five minutes while the Cardinals shooting percentage was in the opposite direction, shooting over 40 percent. The Cardinals' hot shooting led to a 12 point lead with 12:43 to go in the first half.
Louisville continued to shoot well while keeping the Cougars in check defensively and led 22 to 10 with 8:27 before halftime. BYU kept playing hard despite being down and cut the Louisville lead down to seven points with defensive pressure and made lay-ups, 25 to 18, with 6:44 left in the half.
Louisville continued to lead BYU for the rest of the half and had a 44 to 23 lead going into the locker room at halftime.
BYU was led in the first half by Lauren Riley who scored six points, with Shawnee Slade and Dani Wright scoring four a piece.
Both teams traded baskets to open the second half with Louisville maintaining their 19- point lead, 48 to 29 with 15:28 left in the game.
A Shawnee Slade three-pointer brought the score to 32 to 50 with 14:38 remaining but Louisville answered the made basket with a six point unanswered scoring run that increased the Cardinal lead to 56 to 32 with 12 minutes to go in the second half.
The Cougars put together a run of their own to answer Louisville and went on an eight to three run that brought the score to 40 to 59. Dani Wright, who scored six of the eight Cougar points, with Melinda Johnsen accounting for the other two, led the run.
With 6:44 to go in the game, neither team had made a field goal for almost three minutes when Cardinal Jazz Covington made a jump- shot that brought the score to 62 to 40. After a Louisville free throw, Melinda Johnsen hit a jump-shot and the made basket brought the score to 42 to 64 in favor of Louisville with 5:27 left in the game.
Louisville would continue their lead for the remaining minutes of the game and finished with an 80 to 54 win.
"We didn't play as well as we needed too" said BYU Head Coach Jeff Judkins " We were a step slower and they seemed to be quicker at everything."
Dani Wright led BYU with twelve points followed by Mallary Gillespie with 10 points.
Seniors Jennie Keele, Melinda Johnsen and Dani Wright played their last game for BYU.
"The seniors played great all year," said Coach Judkins "I hope our younger players will learn from this and learn they have to play really hard and focused every game."
Despite the loss, BYU had a great season. They won the Mountain West Conference regular season title and made it to the championship game of the MWC tournament.
Their participation as an at-large bid in this years NCAA tournament was their eighth overall, second consecutive and fourth under current Head Coach Jeff Judkins.
Official Basketball Box Score
BYU vs Louisville
03/17/07 5:15 p.m. at Los Angeles, Calif. (Galen Center)
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VISITORS: BYU 23-10
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
35 JOHNSEN, Melinda.... f 2-3 1-2 2-2 0 3 3 1 7 4 2 0 0 30
52 RILEY, Lauren....... f 4-7 0-0 0-2 2 4 6 5 8 0 4 0 0 30
45 WRIGHT, Dani........ c 5-7 0-1 2-3 3 4 7 5 12 0 2 0 0 23
15 KEELE, Jennie....... g 1-6 0-5 1-2 3 0 3 2 3 5 4 0 0 30
30 GILLESPIE, Mallary.. g 3-15 1-8 3-4 0 3 3 3 10 1 3 0 1 34
05 CHEESMAN, Ashley.... 0-1 0-0 1-2 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 5
13 JUDKINS, Jaime...... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 3
22 FADDIS, Brittany.... 0-0 0-0 3-4 1 0 1 0 3 0 0 0 0 2
31 AINA, Rachel........ 0-0 0-0 0-1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2
32 SLADE, Shawnee...... 3-10 1-4 0-0 1 2 3 1 7 2 0 0 0 27
54 KING, Cassie........ 1-1 0-0 1-2 0 1 1 0 3 0 1 0 0 14
TEAM................ 4 4
Totals.............. 19-50 3-20 13-22 10 21 31 18 54 12 18 0 1 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 10-22 45.5% 2nd Half: 9-28 32.1% Game: 38.0% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 1-7 14.3% 2nd Half: 2-13 15.4% Game: 15.0% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 2-5 40.0% 2nd Half: 11-17 64.7% Game: 59.1% 1,5
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HOME TEAM: Louisville 27-7
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
05 TOKOVA, Yuliya...... f 0-3 0-2 1-1 0 3 3 3 1 1 0 0 0 13
12 COVINGTON, JAZZ..... f 6-9 0-0 2-2 3 4 7 3 14 2 2 0 1 29
35 MCCOUGHTRY, Angel... f 8-15 2-5 6-7 5 4 9 1 24 1 1 2 2 35
03 BARLOW, Patrika..... g 2-7 0-4 0-0 1 2 3 1 4 3 0 0 1 27
22 RADDE, Brandie...... g 3-8 2-6 0-0 0 1 1 1 8 3 0 0 0 29
02 SMITH, Jasmine...... 1-2 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 1 2 0 0 0 0 2
13 SLAUGHTER, Toni..... 2-6 1-4 1-2 1 5 6 2 6 1 2 1 1 22
23 JOHNSON, Helen...... 2-8 2-6 0-0 0 3 3 2 6 1 0 0 0 17
25 POINDEXTER, Michelle 2-4 0-0 2-3 1 3 4 2 6 1 0 0 0 7
32 FAULKNER, Kala...... 1-1 0-0 2-2 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 1 2
33 OLSON, Katie........ 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 2 2 0 0 8
42 WRIGHT, CHAUNTISE... 2-4 0-0 1-1 1 1 2 1 5 0 0 0 0 9
TEAM................ 2 1 3 2
Totals.............. 29-69 7-27 15-18 15 28 43 18 80 15 9 3 6 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 17-35 48.6% 2nd Half: 12-34 35.3% Game: 42.0% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 5-13 38.5% 2nd Half: 2-14 14.3% Game: 25.9% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 5-5 100 % 2nd Half: 10-13 76.9% Game: 83.3% 2,1
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Officials: Roy Gulbeyan, Felicia Grinter, Taiqua Stewart
Technical fouls: BYU-None. Louisville-None.
Attendance:
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
BYU........................... 23 31 - 54
Louisville.................... 44 36 - 80