The Cards come into this one, the 4 seed, ranked 13th in the nation and coming off a confidence boosting win vs the Tennessee Volunteers.  The Baylor Bears, the fifth ranked team and a number 1 seed for the second consecutive season will meet the Cards for a third time in series history. Louisville leads the series 2-0… and for a third time it will be in a Sweet 16 matchup. The two previous years met were 2009 & 2013.  Both times, Louisville reached the championship game after defeating the Bears.

Under the leadership of Kim Mulkey (17th season as HC), the Bears have compiled a 41-13 overall record in the NCAA tournament.  In the Sweet Sixteen, Baylor is 7-6 (.538) all-time, winning the last three to advance to the Elite Eight.

RECORD-BREAKING ROUND ONE…

Baylor set four national and seven program NCAA Tournament records in its first round victory over the No. 16 seed Texas Southern.

  • The Lady Bears set NCAA Tournament records for points in a game (119 – regulation only, not overtime), margin of victory (89 points), rebounding margin (+41) and lowest opponent field goal percentage (13.8 percent).
  • Baylor bested its previous NCAA Tournament point total of 91 (vs. Illinois State on March 19, 2005; vs. Florida on March 22, 2004) with 119 points.
  • The Lady Bears pulled down 60 rebounds, four more than their previous record of 56 in an NCAA Tournament game (vs. Florida State on March 26, 2013).
  • Baylor dished out 35 assists for another NCAA Tournament school record, topping its previous high of 27 (vs. Idaho on March 18, 2016).
  • The Lady Bears shot a blistering 63.2 (48-76) percent from the floor to set new program records for field goal percentage (previously 58.9 percent (33-56) vs. Green Bay on March 27, 2011), field goals made (previously 37 vs. Idaho on March 18, 2016) and field goal attempts (previously 74 vs. Idaho on March 18, 2016; vs. Maryland on March 25, 2006) in an NCAA Tournament game.
  • Baylor matched its school record with nine made three-point field goals against the Lady Tigers. This has happened four times for the Lady Bears in NCAA Tournament games.

 

Probable starters/match-ups

Louisville (Head Coach, Jeff Walz)

(28-7)                                        Ht.    Cl. PPG RPG APG Hometown

F 2 Myisha HINES-ALLEN  6-2   Jr.  13.9  9.2   1.6    Montclair, N.J.

F 13 Cortnee WALTON        6-3  r-Sr.  2.8   5.0  0.6    Surprise, Ariz.

F 21 Kylee SHOOK                6-4    Fr.   5.2   3.3  0.6    Colorado Springs, Colo.

G 4 Mariya MOORE             6-0    Jr.   11.9  4.9  5.0    Hercules, Calif.

G 25 Asia DURR                   5-10   So.  19.1   3.3  1.8    Douglasville, Ga.

 

Baylor (Head Coach, Kim Mulkey)

(32-3)                                        Ht.    Cl. PPG RPG APG Hometown

G 4  Kristy Wallace               5’11    Jr.    7.5   5.7    3.9    Loganholme, Queensland, Australia

G 12 Alexis Prince                 6’2   r-Sr.  12.1  2.5    5.8    Orlando, Fla.

F 1  Dekeiya Cohen               6’2    Jr.     3.5   1.3    3.3     Charleston, S.C.

F 13 Nina Davis                    5’11    Sr.   12.6   1.9    5.7     Memphis, Tn.

C 21 Kalani Brown               6’7    So.    15.1   1.9    8.1      Slidell, La.

from Baylor Bears press release..

  •    Senior Nina Davis became the only player in conference history to earn four career All-Big 12 Tournament Team nods (2014, 2015, 2016, 2017) at the 2017 Phillips 66 Big 12 Championships.
  •    The two-time Big 12 Championships Most Outstanding Player (2014, 2015) averaged a team-high 19.0 points and 8.7 rebounds in the three-game stretch.
  • Davis recorded a double-double with 18 points and a team-high 14 rebounds against Texas Tech in the quarterfinal and poured in a team-high 24 points in the semifinal against No. 24/rv Kansas State. In the final, she recorded 15 points, six rebounds and two blocks.
  • At the Big 12 Championships, Davis shot 61.0 (25-41) from the floor and 77.8 (7-9) percent from the foul line.
  • Joining senior Nina Davis as 2017 Big 12 All-Tournament Team selections were redshirt senior Alexis Prince and junior Kristy Wallace.
  • Prince averaged 18.3 points, 5.7 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.0 blocks per game in the three-game stretch. The 6-2 guard shot 62.2 (23-37) percent from the floor, including 52.9 (9-17) from three-point range.
  • In the quarterfinal against Texas Tech, Prince paced the Lady Bears with 22 points, then added 18 points on a 7-for-8 performance in the semifinal against No. 24/rv Kansas State. In the final, she scored 15 points and added nine rebounds.
  • Wallace averaged 11.3 points, 8.0 rebounds and 9.0 assists per game at the Big 12 Championships. The 5-11 guard shot 43.3 (13-30) percent from the floor and 33.3 (4-6) percent from three-point land.
  • Wallace posted her first career double-double in the quarterfinal with 12 points and 10 rebounds. She was three assists shy of a triple-double with seven assists. In the semifinal, she dished out a career-high-matching 15 assists to set a Big 12 Championships record and added five points and five rebounds. Against West Virginia in the final, Wallace netted 17 points, pulled down nine rebounds and dished out five assists.

 

When and where

Friday 9:30 PM E.T.

ESPN2

I’ll be there to bring it to #cardnation on thecrunchzone.com, @Kywomen_sports

and make sure you follow @UofLWBB and me on twitter @darylfoust4

 

As always, Go Cards Go!

 

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Daryl Foust

Lifelong fan of the Louisville Cardinals, been covering the teams since 2012, graduated from c/o 2015, Writer/Contributor for TCZ for Men's Soccer, Women's Basketball & Softball since 2016.

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