ATLANTA–The Charlottesville Cardinals suffered their first loss of the season against a very scrappy University of Alabama Women’s squad, 63-58, this Friday evening.
After taking a 31-28 margin at halftime the Cardinals built a seven-point margin at 39-31 with nine and half minutes left in the game but the Crimson Tide’s relentless pressure and the sharp shooting of Alabama’s Karolina Lingyte and Cindy Ouellet erased the deficit with just under four minutes to play. As the game clock wound down the Cardinals hit a cold spot and allowed Alabama to seize a 57-53 lead with two minutes to go.
The Cardinals cut the margin to 57-55 on a basket by Brandon Rush, but then immediately lost Rush with 1:40 left when he committed his fifth foul. Ouellet converted two free throws to pad the Alabama lead and Charlottesville never closed the gap.
Mike Looney led Cardinals’ scorers with 23 points. Tom Vandever added 14 and Brandon Rush chipped in 10 for Charlottesville. Alabama’s Karolina Lingyte shared top scoring honors by scoring 23 for the winners.
The Cardinals are now 3-1 on the season and face the 3rd-rank Orlando Magic at 10 a.m. on Saturday.
Box Score:
Charlottesville 58
University of Alabama 63