Louisville women’s basketball team climbs AP Top 25 poll

LOUISVILLE, KY: The women’s basketball team of the University of Louisville is continuing to rise in the rankings.

The Cardinals (15-2, 4-0 ACC) jumped up to No. 13 in the AP Top 25 Women’s College Basketball poll on Monday, moving up two spots. Since the squad’s No. 10 ranking in November 2022, this is Louisville’s highest ranking.

Unbeatable South Carolina got all 36 votes for first place and continued to hold the top spot. The remaining four ranked teams are Iowa, Colorado, North Carolina State, and UCLA.

Louisville defeated Wake Forest 83-62 on Sunday to extend their winning streak to five games.

With 10 players scoring, Olivia Cochran and backup Jayda Curry both led Louisville in scoring with 12 points apiece. Sydney Taylor led Louisville with eleven points, while Nyla Harris, Kiki Jefferson, and reserve Merissa Russell each chipped in with ten. Louisville shot 31 for 56 (55.4%), including seven for eleven (63.6%) from beyond the arc and fourteen for twenty (70%) from the foul line.

But according to head coach Jeff Walz, the Cards must cut down on their turnovers.

“Overall we did some really good things today,” Walz stated. “But occasionally, we behaved badly. We made sixteen mistakes. Though we played competitively for the entire forty minutes, the goal is to play cleaner basketball.

“Our league is on par with all other leagues in the nation. It is beyond a doubt. You need to be ready to play every night or else you’ll get into a dogfight.”

Thursday at 7 p.m., UofL will play its next game against Clemson (8-9, 1-4 ACC).

In the conference, the Cardinals are the only team without a loss.

RELATED: No. 17 Louisville becomes the 27th club to reach 1,000 program wins. “What a journey it has been.”

RELATED: Wake Forest is thrashed 83-62 by No. 15 Louisville women thanks to a balanced offense.