COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Ohio State guard Kelsey Mitchell said it best. Louisville’s Asia Durr couldn’t miss.
Durr scored a career-high 47 points, including 13 of her team’s 15 in overtime, to lead No. 9 Louisville to a 95-90 victory over fifth-ranked Ohio State on Sunday.
Her jumper with 3:27 remaining in overtime and a 3-pointer a possession later put the Cardinals (2-0) ahead 87-83, which ended up being a decisive blow to the Buckeyes (1-1). She shot 16 for 29 from the field and 9 for 16 from 3.
“She got hot,” Ohio State head coach Kevin McGuff said. “She was spectacular tonight. Unbelievable. It was an amazing performance by her. One of the keys was we allowed her to get really comfortable early and because of that, she stayed in the zone.”
Louisville led 41-40 at the start of the second half, and that’s when Durr took over. She scored 10 of the Cardinals’ first 12 points of the half and grew their lead to as much as 14. But each time Louisville had a sizable lead, Ohio State made a run of its own. Then the Cardinals countered, and then the Buckeyes punched back shortly thereafter.
Ohio State trailed by seven with 4:18 remaining and had a chance to win with 5.5 seconds and Mitchell at the line. She hit one free throw to tie the game at 80, but missed the second try that would’ve given the Buckeyes the lead. It was a missed opportunity and Durr made them pay in overtime.
“Coming into the game, we knew it was going to be a game of runs, so when they went on their run, we just had to calm down, stay together and then it was our turn,” Durr said.
Mitchell had just three points in the first half, but finished with a team-lead 26 points and eight assists. Linnae Harper and Asia Doss were also in double figures for the Buckeyes with 21 and 19 points, respectively.
Myisha Hines-Allen tallied a double-double with 14 points and 15 rebounds for Louisville.
Another key was Louisville’s dominance on the boards. The Cardinals outrebounded the Buckeyes 47-29 and held Ohio State forward Stephanie Mavunga to just four points and six rebounds, two days after she scored 17 and grabbed 26 boards against No. 10 Stanford.
“The difference in this ball game tonight was how we rebounded the basketball,” Louisville head coach Jeff Walz said. “That was something we had talked about for the last three days. If you want to beat Ohio State, you have to rebound the ball.”
McGuff and Mitchell both seemed to believe the game came down to execution on both ends, as well as being physical on the boards. Ohio State shot 40 of its 63 shots from 3-point range Sunday, which McGuff attributed to a lack of flow on offense.
“It’s early, but at the end of the day we’re veterans,” Mitchell said. “We’ve been around a while so a lot of stuff we allowed to happen today, we can’t allow to happen seeing that we’ve been around for four years.”
Mitchell knows 47 points to one player is too many. But frankly, Durr was unstoppable from the tip.
“I wanted to win badly, so badly,” Durr said. “Last year, we were on TV and we didn’t do so well, so we had to come out and make a statement. And that’s what this is all about.”
BIG PICTURE:
Louisville: This was a signature win for Louisville and will reflect well in March when the selection committee evaluates the Cardinals’ resume
Ohio State: The Buckeyes won one of two games against top-10 opponents on the weekend.
STAT OF THE NIGHT:
Louisville had 15 second-chance points compared to Ohio State’s four.
HE SAID IT:
McGuff on rebounding difficulties: “We didn’t hit them. We weren’t physical. But they were flying by us and we didn’t have the discipline to hit them and keep them away from the basket. That was a big, big part of the game.”
UP NEXT:
Louisville: Plays Toledo at home on Tuesday.
Ohio State: Plays Idaho at home Wednesday.
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