Louisville basketball legend Angel McCoughtry traveled to France to see her former team play sixth-ranked UCLA.
It was the past of Cardinals women’s basketball watching the future, as U of L started two freshmen: Taj Roberts and Mackenly Randolph.
Roberts stole the show in her collegiate debut with a game-high 21 points for the 17th-ranked Cardinals. But the more experienced UCLA squad used 18 points and 13 rebounds from Lauren Betts to earn the season-opening 66-59 win over the Cardinals on Monday in the second annual Aflac Oui-Play Event at the Adidas Arena in Paris. Randolph finished with two points, three rebounds, three assists and a steal.
“We know her a little bit better than most, just because of where she’s from,” UCLA head coach Cori Close said of Roberts, a San Diego native. “We were not expecting her to shoot the ball as well as she did. She’s obviously been putting in work in that. You never outperform your self-image. For her to come in with that kind of confidence, to be able to step into those moments and knock down shots, I think it says a lot about how she views herself. She’s got a great career ahead.”
Both teams were down a player due to injuries: Jayda Curry for Louisville and Kiki Rice, the Bruins’ second-leading scorer last season.
Curry suffered a hamstring injury during one of the Cardinals’ recent scrimmages and is day to day.
“Would we have liked to have her out there? Of course,” Louisville coach Jeff Walz said, “but I wasn’t willing to aggravate it further, and all of a sudden, she’s got to miss two more weeks. Our No. 1 goal is to try to make sure, for her health and her safety, let’s get her back healthy and then go from there.”
The Cardinals’ youthful energy sparked them to a 6-0 lead.
McCoughtry had seven points against University of California, Santa Barbara in her first game for Louisville almost 20 years ago. Roberts had 11 at the half and notched her first collegiate point on a free throw. UCLA was assessed a technical foul for not having its starting lineup to the scorer’s table in time, which sent the five-star recruit to the line. She later put the Cardinals up, 26-25, after nailing back-to-back 3-pointers midway through the second quarter.
Louisville’s inexperience reared its head in the form of inconsistency. The Bruins countered the Cardinals’ hot start with longer scoring runs. Their 25-20 lead in the second quarter came after an 8-0 run. A 9-0 run one quarter later allowed them to go ahead 45-40.
That’s where Ja’Leah Williams came in.
Heralded for her defense, the veteran Miami transfer guard used two of her four steals and a defensive rebound to put Louisville ahead, 46-45, late in the third quarter. She finished with 11 points and nine assists.
“I thought she was great on the ball,” Walz said of Williams. “She did a nice job off the ball, came up with some big steals on some passes into the paint, and then she did a really good job of converting when we got those steals.”
But the Cardinals’ scoring was limited to five points through most of the fourth quarter, allowing the Bruins to stretch a 61-51 lead with three minutes left. The Cardinals went cold and missed four straight shots before Roberts’ jumper brought them within single digits again.
U of L couldn’t overcome the deficit and lost veteran forward Olivia Cochran, who fouled out with 1:57 remaining in regulation. She had just made a free throw to narrow UCLA’s lead, 61-54.
Louisville (0-1) is set to play Southern Indiana in its home opener at 7 p.m. Friday at the KFC Yum! Center.
“The growth that I think this team — the potential that we have, it’s a pretty high ceiling,” Walz said. “We just competed pretty darn well against a team ranked in the top five (in the AP poll) that’s got size that we don’t have. It’s not always about how tough you are. It’s about the heart you have. And, I thought our kids just really, really did a great job out there.”
Reach Louisville football, women’s basketball and baseball beat writer Alexis Cubit at acubit@gannett.com and follow her on X at @Alexis_Cubit.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville WBB score: U of L falls to UCLA in college basketball game
