LSU’s Jasmine Rhodes goes up for a layup during their regional semifinal game at the NCAA women’s basketball tournament against Louisville, Sunday, March 30, 2014, in Louisville, Ky.LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Shoni Schimmel scored 19 points, Tia Gibbs added five 3-pointers and third-seeded Louisville rolled seventh-seeded LSU 73-47 on Sunday to reach the regional final of the NCAA tournament.
Facing an injury-riddled Lady Tigers squad that dressed just eight players, the Cardinals (33-4) rung up another rout highlighted by a season-best 12 3-pointers with the two seniors leading the way. Schimmel was 3 of 5 from beyond the arc and three other Cardinals contributed.
LSU (21-13) on the other hand went 31 minutes with just Danielle Ballard (24 points), Jasmine Rhodes (eight) and Theresa Plaisance (seven) scoring before other players chipped in. By then the game was out of hand and the Lady Tigers shot just 24 percent from the field.
Louisville moved on to host Maryland on Tuesday night, matching Cardinals coach Jeff Walz against Terrapins counterpart Brenda Frese, whom he worked under from 2002-07.
Antonita Slaughter added 10 points and Asia Taylor had 10 rebounds for Louisville, which shot 40 percent and was outrebounded 48-46 but cruised because its reserves outscored LSU’s bench 28-0 while dominating the Lady Tigers 21-2 in assists.