CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – The Austin Peay Lady Govs got a painful lesson on the need to keep hitting shots and play with emotion for the entire game.
Leslie Martinez led Austin Peay with 14 points, and her 3-pointer in the opening minutes of the second half was the last bucket the Lady Govs hit until she knocked down another jumper 10 minutes later Thursday night in a 90-52 loss to eighth-ranked Louisville.
"You have to knock down shots against a team like Louisville to be in the ballgame," Austin Peay coach Carrie Daniels said. " ''Hopefully, that'll give us some confidence, take some positives from this game."
This was the first time the Lady Govs have hosted a team ranked in the Top 10. They led after the opening bucket by Kaitlyn Hill and pulled to 30-27 on a layup by Hill with 7:38 left. They stayed in the game shooting away from 3-point range where they hit six of their first 10 3s. Then the Lady Govs went cold just as Louisville went on a 14-0 run and led 48-33 at halftime.
In the second half, the Lady Govs just couldn't score. Hill hit a jumper, then Martinez hit a 3 with 17:52 left to pull Austin Peay to 52-38. That was it for Austin Peay from the floor until Martinez's jumper with 7:50 remaining. The Lady Govs wound up hitting only 7 of 28 in the half.
"We came out the second half, we just didn't show the same emotion that we did the first half, which actually kept us in the game," Martinez said.
Austin Peay also finished with 23 turnovers after having 29 in their season-opening loss at UAB.
Monique Reid scored 14 points in just 10 minutes as Louisville (3-0) remained perfect in its first road game this season.
"I was really excited for her," Louisville coach Jeff Walz said Reid. "Mo offensively has always been one of the best there is around that I've coached. Now I've been challenging her to get on the glass for us in the limited amount of time, and she plays 10 minutes in the first half and comes up with five rebounds for us. I was really impressed with that. I know she's going to score because she can put the ball in the basket."
Reid suffered a season-ending injury to her left knee last December and earned a medical hardship waiver. She made the most of her time in the first half, hitting six of seven shots and also had two steals.
"Being able to get those points and those minutes it just shows for us she is going to be able to do more when she is actually healthy," Louisville junior Shoni Schimmel said.
Schimmel and Shawnta' Dyer each added 12 points for Louisville. The Cardinals trailed only 2-0 and took the lead for good on a couple of 3-pointers by Antonita Slaughter.
The Cardinals outrebounded Austin Peay 46-30 and outshot the Lady Govs 57.6 percent (34 of 59) to 31 percent (18 of 58). They also had a 30-14 margin off turnovers and a 44-16 edge in the paint.
Receive your weekly recap of all the happenings around the world of sports.