No. 5 Louisville overwhelms Coogs, 93-52

Posted: January 21, 2014 -- 11:31 pm CST.

HOUSTON, TX (Hofheinz Pavilion) -- The Houston Cougars jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead over the 5th-ranked Louisville Cardinals Tuesday night; and, a few people gathered inside Hofheinz Pavilion believed a major upset was in the works. But, the Cardinals responded with a 13-0 run in four plus minutes. The Coogs continued playing hard and battling; but, after trailing 38-29 at halftime, the Cardinals rained three-pointers from all over Guy V. Lewis Court in the second half and rolled to a 93-52 victory over the Cougars.

“You have to give a lot of credit to Louisville. They hit shots when they needed to and stretched this thing open,” said interim Houston head coach Wade Scott after the game.

Houston senior post Yasmeen Thompson followed a three-point basket by teammate Marche' Amerson with a layup to bring the Coogs within two points (18-16) with 11:48 remaining in the first half; however, five different Cardinals scored during a 12-0 run to boost their lead to 30-16 with 5:20 left until halftime.

Houston senior Marissa Ashton nailed a three-point to start a 13-4 run by the Coogs to reduce Houston's deficit to just five points (34-29) with 2:14 on the clock.

“It’s kind of what we’ve been doing the last three or four games unfortunately," said Louisville head coach Jeff Walz after the game. "We’ve given some teams some confidence. We were down two to SMU, and were up 20 with about five (minutes) to go. Then here, we had it to a 14-point game in the first half, and then we miss a layup, and give up a three, so instead of being up 16 now we’re up 11. We’ve got to get better at putting teams away.”

Unfortunately, the Coogs finished the half with one turnover and two missed field goals as the Cardinals scored the final four points of the half to take a 38-29 lead into the locker rooms.

Demetria Foreman nailed a jump shot after a layup by Destini Texada; and, the Coogs were within eight points (41-33) at the 18:03 mark of the second half.

But, the Cardinals erupted for a 25-6 run to blow the game wide open. Louisville sank four consecutive three-point shots during the onslaught.

“The first half I thought the intensity was there, we were hitting our shots," Coach Scott commented. "As the game wore down, when you miss those easy ones, everyone’s confidence gets down just a little bit. Everyone presses to get that next score. The girls gave their effort. They did what we asked them to do; so, you just have to tip your hat to the other guy.”

Louisville led by as much as 44 points in the closing seconds of the game.

Shoni Schimmel scored a game-high 25 points for the Cardinals. Schimmel sank 7 of the Cardinals' 11 three-point baskets. Schimmel was 7 of 11 from three and 9 of 14 from the floor overall.

"Shoni can miss five or six in a row and the next one is going in for her," Coach Scott said. "And, when she hits one, she hits about five or six in a row."

Schimmel also added eight boards and five assists. Asia Taylor scored 16 points (7 of 9 field goals) while Emmonni Henderson scored 14 (plus 7 boards) and Bria Smith added 13 points.

The Cardinals (19-1 overall, 7-0 in the American Athletic Conference) shot 54.7% from the floor (35 for 64) including 63.6% (21 for 33) in the second half.

Marche' Amerson, Yasmeen Thompson, and Demetria Foreman each scored 10 points for the Coogs.

Houston made just 19 of 62 field goals (30.6%) in the game including 27.3% (9 for 33 field goals) in the second half.

After the game, Amerson confidently stated, “Honestly, I think it was us. A lot of times we beat ourselves. A lot of people may not see it that way; but, we are a good team. And, if we can get those small things down and learn to stay together throughout the whole entire game, we have a chance to shock a lot of people. So I don’t really think it was anything that they did differently in the second half. It is just that we have to learn to play for a full game.”

Houston (4-14 overall, 0-7 in The American) hosts in-state rival SMU Saturday, January 25, at 2 p.m.

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