Louisville stormed out of the gate going up 8-0. Michigan scored their first basket of the game with 3:45 left in the first quarter. Unfortunately in the second quarter the Cards seemed to run out of steam. They finished the quarter on a 18-2 run up 32-27. The Cards regrouped in the third quarter and reclaimed the lead but then the Wolverines finished on another massive run and Louisville never recovered.

Elif Istanbulluoglu finished the season strong with 18 points and 7 rebounds. Reyna Scott in her final game as a Cardinal had 9 points. Laura Ziegler had 5 points, 8 rebounds, and 4 assists.

After the game Coach Walz said, “Unfortunately, it wasn’t our best day by no means. I thought in the first quarter we came out. We executed. We defended extremely well. Then uncharacteristically we missed a lot of wide open shots….. At this time of the year you’ve got to be able to knock down open shots. Unfortunately, we struggled in doing that. That’s why we’re sitting here right now.”

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He added, “Today we missed a lot of shots we normally don’t miss. Then we got passive. We got frustrated. We had opportunities against the press to attack, and we just pull it out and try to run an offense. You know, we’ve played teams that have pressed like this, and we’ve carved them apart. We’ve attacked and shot layups, kept looking to score, and for some reason today we didn’t have that mindset.”

Shooting wasn’t the only issue, “We went zone to start the third quarter. We make a nice little run. Then we give up offensive rebounds. That’s what killed us. The offensive rebounding when we started to make a run there in the third quarter, in March you have to rebound the basketball.”

Coach Walz did praise Elif’s play, “She does so much for us on the defensive end of the floor. She’s gotten hit in the face more than any kid I’ve ever coached in my life, but she keeps competing. She plays through pain, which at this time of the year if you expect not to have something hurting, you’re crazy.” He said that he told Imari Berry, Tajianna Roberts, and Mackenly Randolph to be inspired by her. “I’m, like, guys, if I can have one of you, two of, or all of you, make the improvement that Elif made from her sophomore year to her junior year, we’re going to be in business because she was by far the best player on the floor for us. And it’s not just the fact that she goes 8 for 12. It’s 7 rebounds, the way she competes.”

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Mackenly Randolph gave Cardinal fans something to be optimistic abou, “I think this is going to be fuel for us. I mean, we did it this year, so we know what it looks like and we know what it takes to get here and how hard we have to work. So starting in June getting in in the summer and just making sure we’re focused in on what we need to work on.”

Thanks for reading all year and Go Cards!