Hines-Allen, U of L women rally past Miami

Following her subpar performance the last time out, Jeff Walz removed Myisha Hines-Allen from the starting lineup before the University of Louisville's game at Miami Sunday night.

The freshman responded by playing as well as any starter a team could find, scoring a career-high 23 points and helping the No. 4 Cardinals charge back from a 13-point first-half deficit to beat the Hurricanes 68-55 at the KFC Yum! Center. It was a physical matchup of teams tied atop the Atlantic Coast Conference standings.

Hines-Allen had tied a season low with four points in only 14 minutes in Louisville's loss at Florida State on Thursday, and Walz wanted to see how she would respond to a demotion. She did so well that the coach is now likely to keep her in a sixth-woman role.

"I think she got pissed off if you want the truth," Walz said. "I think she got really mad that she wasn't starting, which was part of why I did it. I wanted to see what kind of fight she had. I wanted her to show me, 'Hey, you're wrong.' Unfortunately she showed me too well, so we she won't start again on Thursday (against Syracuse).

"I was really proud of her."

The Cardinals (18-2, 6-1 ACC) trailed 27-14 at the 6:04 mark of the first half as, Walz said, they came out unprepared for a "knock-down, drag-out" game with the Canes (15-5, 5-2).

U of L turned things around with Hines-Allen's strong play off the bench, and the Cards were ignited by a noisy crowd of 9,887. The fans roared with disapproval after Walz received a technical foul at the 6:04 mark, and U of L appeared to feed off the energy, finishing the half on a 13-4 run, then beginning the second half with a 20-3 spurt to throttle Miami.

Hines-Allen made 10 of 11 shots and had eight rebounds in what Walz said was Louisville's most physical game of the season. Her starting replacement, senior Shawnta' Dyer, added 10 points and eight rebounds.

"(Not starting) made me push harder," Hines-Allen said. "But I have to play like that every single game, if I'm not in the starting lineup, or if I am."

Bria Smith, who was also taken out of the starting five by Walz, had a solid game with 13 points, seven rebounds and six assists. Mariya Moore tallied 13 points and seven assists.

U of L had 19 assists on 24 field goals in what Walz called "a spectacular job passing the basketball."

U of L held Miami to just nine field goals in the second half, including just three points over the first 10 ½ minutes after halftime.

Things started slowly for the Cards, who fell behind 21-1 to Florida State, then 15-4 to the Canes after 5 ½ minutes. Adrienne Motley went 5 for 5 and scored 11 points in that early stretch and finished with 18 points.

Smith and Hines-Allen helped stem the tide.

Hines-Allen had eight points, including two baskets assists by Smith, and Smith hit a jumper to get the Cards back within 15-12.

"We really just needed to pick up our defensive intensity," Smith said. "We really were letting them do whatever they wanted to, and we kind of hold our hat on our defense. … Once we buckled down on defense, things started going our way."

Miami regrouped and pulled back ahead 27-14 on a layup by Michelle Woods while being fouled at the 6:04 mark. Walz was called for a technical arguing the call, but Motley missed both technical fouls shots and Woods missed her personal foul shot.

"As I explained to the gentleman standing next to me, the ball don't lie," Walz said, opining on the reason the free throws didn't go in.

The crowd bemoaned the technical, then applauded the misses, and never let up. The Cards scored nine straight points during their strong finish to the half, cutting Miami's lead to 31-27 at the break.

U of L started the second half with a 9-0 run to take the lead and didn't look back.

Walz took the public-address microphone and thanked the crowd after the game for its support.

"The crowd was fantastic," he said. "The crowd, when things were going bad, instead of just going quiet, just got louder, and that's what you need. … We're the exception, not the norm putting 9,000, close to 10,000 in here every night."

Steve Jones can be reached at (502) 582-7176 and followed on Twitter at @SteveJones_CJ.

UP NEXT

SYRACUSE AT NO. 4 LOUISVILLE

7 p.m. Thursday, KFC Yum! Center

Radio: WKRD-790