LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Hailey Van Lith scored 17 points for No. 3 Louisville in a 72-60 victory over Wake Forest on Sunday.
The Cardinals (16-2, 6-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) rebounded from Thursday’s loss to N.C. State with one of their best shooting performances of the season. Louisville shot 66.7% in the first half and 51% for the game despite missing their last 10 shots over the final 8:22 of the game.
But Louisville’s defense was equally impressive as the Cardinals ended the second quarter on a 23-1 to put the game away. Van Lith scored eight points during the decisive run, as did Liz Dixon.
Emily Engstler added 15 points in the win for Louisville. Dixon came off the bench to score 12 and was perfect from the field on five shots.
Louisville led by as many as 34 in the second half.
The Demon Deacons (12-8, 2-7) led 25-21 just 20 seconds into the second quarter after a 3-pointer by Olivia Summiel. They had made 9-of-17 shots at that point, but Wake Forest would not hit another basket until Elise Williams hit a trey with 2:17 remaining in the third quarter to cut Louisville’s lead to 63-34.
Wake Forest missed 20 shots in that drought. After shooting a season-low 27.1% in a 66-44 home loss to Clemson Thursday, the Demon Deacons shot just 29.6% on Sunday.
Jewel Spear scored 12 of her 22 points in the fourth quarter to lead Wake Forest.
BIG PICTURE
Wake Forest: The Demon Deacons outplayed the Cardinals for a quarter but then ran into a buzzsaw as they lost their fifth straight game.
Louisville: The Cards early defense was reminiscent of the final quarter in Thursday’s loss at N.C. State. However, they eventually established control and put up one of their more impressive performances of the season. The final score was not indicative to the way Louisville played for most of the game.
UP NEXT
Wake Forest hosts Miami (Fla.) on Thursday night.
Louisville hosts Florida State on Thursday night.
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More AP women’s college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25
