Cavinder Reaches 2,000 Career Points, Miami Falls at Louisville
LOUISVILLE, KY. – Senior guard Haley Cavinder reached a scoring milestone Thursday, eclipsing the 2,000-point mark in Miami’s 71-57 loss to Louisville (21-9, 12-5 ACC) at the KFC Yum! Center. Cavinder became the 18th active NCAA Division I women’s basketball player to tally 2,000 career points.
Cavinder totaled 16 points in the contest, hitting the 2,000-point mark on her final bucket of the game, a turnaround fadeaway jumper in the fourth quarter. The guard also finished the night with eight rebounds and a block, just two boards shy of her 23rd career double-double.
“The team, the community and the university are just really proud of Haley,” head coach Katie Meier said. “You can see how gritty she is in that she almost had a double-double tonight. She’s a competitor and a fighter. What an honor and what a huge milestone for her. I’m really proud of her.”
Graduate student Karla Erjavec joined Cavinder in double-figures with 10 points on the evening for her third double-digit outing of the season. Fellow graduate student Destiny Harden paced the Hurricanes (17-11, 10-7 ACC) on the boards, hauling in nine rebounds.
“This is life on the road in the ACC. You have to play, pretty much, mistake-free basketball,” Meier said. “Foul trouble killed us in the first half, but I thought we sustained it pretty well. We stayed in the game in the first half and didn’t get frustrated.”
Louisville junior Hailey Van Lith set the tone from the jump for the Cardinals, knocking down back-to-back threes to give Louisville an 8-4 lead early in the first. Miami responded with a 7-2 run, but the Cardinals regrouped to hold a three-point, 18-15, lead after one.
Foul trouble plagued the Hurricanes in the first half as Miami was tagged with 11 fouls compared to the Cardinals’ two. Louisville closed the quarter on a 17-3 run to take a 36-27 lead into the locker room at halftime.
Haley Cavinder came alive for the Hurricanes in the third, totaling 11 points on 4-of-7 shooting to within seven at the 4:53 mark in the frame.
“We had them on the ropes a bit in the third quarter, but the story of the game is their sub, Josie Williams, who came in and played 1:29 and just did her job,” Meier said. “She scored five points and without those five points, we go into the fourth quarter, on the road, only down five and feeling great about ourselves. We fouled and had a lack of discipline on the defensive end.”
Senior Lola Pendande also stepped up for the Hurricanes with seven second-half points, but Miami could not contain the Cardinals’ offense and Louisville came away with the 71-57 victory at home.
The Hurricanes return to the Watsco Center for the final game of the regular season, hosting the Virginia Cavaliers on Senior Day. Tipoff is set for 12 p.m. and the game will air on ACC Network.
Single-game tickets are available for purchase online or by calling the Miami Hurricanes ticket office at 1-800-GO-CANES. For more details, dial that number or email canestix@miami.edu.
