Three takeaways as Louisville picks up another win, beating Florida State at home
Louisville is back on a winning streak.
The fifth-ranked Cardinals beat Florida State 75-62 on Thursday, winning its second straight game.
Louisville (17-2, 7-1) was led by the duo Emily Engstler and Olivia Cochran, who combined for 36 points. Engstler led the way with 19 points and Cochran had 17 points.
The Cardinals also got a boost from their bench, as Liz Dixon, Mykasa Robinson and Ahlana Smith all were crucial down the stretch for the Cardinals. Robinson had the highest plus-minus on the team, finishing plus-21 for the game.
Thursday evening, before tip-off against Florida State, the NCAA released its early NCAA Tournament seeding. If the season ended on Thursday, Louisville would be the No. 5 overall seed in the entire tournament. That means Louisville received the top No. 2 seed and was placed in the Wichita region with the lowest No. 1 seed, Tennessee. Also in that region are Iowa State, a No. 3 seed, and Oregon, the No. 4 seed.
Louisville still has time before it can lock in its NCAA Tournament bid. The Cardinals have 10 games with No. 24 Duke coming to town on Sunday at 3 p.m.
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Impressive ball security
Louisville didn't have the best shooting night, it shot just 41% from the field. The high-scoring duo of Hailey Van Lith and Kianna Smith shot just 6-of-23 from the field, combined.
What kept Louisville in front was its ball security. The Cardinals turned the ball over just eight times on Thursday, a season-low output. Louisville had nine turnovers against Washington on the fourth game of the year, a season-low before Thursday's game.
That ball security was key on Thursday, as Florida State scored just four points off turnovers. The Seminoles also only had three steals, meaning five turnovers were dead-ball turnovers for the Cardinals.
Louisville isn't always going to have turnover numbers that low, but if it can keep that number low it will have a lot of success.
Bench makes a huge difference for Cards
Louisville's starters, outside of Olivia Cochran, struggled from the field on Thursday.
Fortunately for Louisville, it has a deep team this season and the bench played a big role in Thursday's win.
Robinson was her elite defensive spark plug, but she also set a season-high with nine points and forced four steals. Dixon was terrific in the first half, again, and finished with seven points, five rebounds and four blocks.
Ahlana Smith, though she played just seven minutes, had six points and hit an important step-back three in the third quarter to stop a Florida State-run.
Louisville has a lot of talent, Van Lith and Smith won't shoot that poorly every game, but it's a nice sight to see the bench step up, again for the Cardinals.
Morgan Jones explodes, but Cards stifle everybody else
Louisville has the No. 6 scoring defense in the country and though Florida State went over Louisville's average, it played good defense for most of the game.
Jones was the star for Florida State, as many expected. She scored a season-high xx points and looked unstoppable at times for Florida State. Louisville stifled everybody else, though.
Louisville had nine blocks in the game, six steals and forced the Florida State to shoot just 22% from deep. It wasn't a perfect defensive game from Louisville, but it forced Florida State into some tough and contested shots.
Cameron Teague Robinson CTeagueRob@gannett.com; Twitter: @cj_teague;
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville women's basketball: Engstler, Cochran push Cards to win
