The No. 22/19 Louisville women’s basketball team (7-1) picked up its first ranked win of the season after the 64-58 win over No. 19/20 Ole Miss (6-2) Wednesday night in the inaugural ACC/SEC Challenge. The Cardinals trailed at the half but used a 7-0 spurt in the third quarter to regain the lead and they did not look back as they picked up their seventh win of the season. The Cardinals snapped the Rebels winning streak, as they won their last five games heading into the night.
Kiki Jefferson led the Cardinals in scoring for the second-straight game with 16 points on the night. Nina Rickards scored in double-figures for the fourth-straight game as she added 15 points and had a team-high three assists and three steals. Rickards has had two or more assists in every game this season. Sydney Taylor had a team-high six rebounds and posted eight points with two made threes. It was her sixth-straight game with two or more made three-pointers.
It was a back and forth first quarter as both teams dug in defensively and made it hard to get the offense flowing. Neither team led by more than six in the quarter and after the first 10 minutes, the score was tied at 14-14.
The defensive battle continued into the second quarter. At the media timeout, the Cardinals limited the Rebels to just two points through the first five minutes but only scored four of their own and held an 18-16 lead with 4:43 left until halftime. Olivia Cochran scored the Cardinals first four points of the quarter and also took a charge on the defensive end in the first few minutes of the second. Ole Miss responded with a 9-0 spurt to give the Rebels a slim 30-28 lead heading into the half.
Jefferson led the Cards with 11 first half points and was 5-for-5 from the free throw line. The Cardinals as a team were 9-for-11 (81.8 percent) from the charity stripe in the first half.
The Cardinals regained the lead in the early parts of the third quarter thanks to a 7-0 run. The Cardinals defense was stout to begin the half as they did not allow Ole Miss to hit their first field goal until there was 5:00 left in the third quarter. The Cardinals only allowed the Rebels to hit three shots during the quarter while they were red hot from the floor. Louisville hit 6-of-8 (75 percent) shots in the third and held a 50-44 lead heading into the final quarter.
The Rebels made a run in the final minutes and trimmed the Louisville lead to as low as four. With under a minute to go and the Rebels with the ball, Nyla Harris got a steal and Rickards hit two free throws to clinch the win.
The Cardinals head back to campus and will open its second three-game homestand this coming weekend. Louisville will welcome NC A&T to the KFC Yum! Center for a Sunday matinee matchup. The Cardinals and Aggies are set to face off at 12 p.m. ET and the game will be streamed on the ACC Network Extra.
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