Merissah Russell, Trinity San Antonio and Kaelynn Satterfield just faced off three days ago in the bronze medal match of the 2023 FIBA Women’s AmeriCup in León, Guanajuato, Mexico.
The three suited up for their respective teams of Louisville, representing USA, and Puerto Rico to open the GLOBL JAM competition on Wednesday morning as Louisville took the win 78-55.
The two teams swapped baskets early as no side lead by more than three points, but graduate transfer Sydney Taylor led Louisville’s charge as she scored all of the first nine points for her squad shooting 100 per cent from beyond the three-point arc.
“It means everything to me just to be here representing the country, trying to win a gold medal, I think that’s big for everyone on the team, I’m just doing what I do on the court and continuing to win every day,” said Taylor.
For Puerto Rico, San Antonio’s speed was on display early as she drove the basket for seven points in the quarter, as the team looked to beat Louisville in transition scoring six points on the fast break but trailed 22-16 after the first quarter.
“San Antonio did a really nice job of shot faking and driving and we kept falling for her shot fake, so give her a ton of credit, and their entire team, they competed,” said Louisville head coach Jeff Walz.
Louisville jumped out to lead by 10 to start second quarter, as they forced seven turnovers to score 11 points and allowed just three points from Puerto Rico through the first four minutes of play.
Olivia Cochran, a Louisville veteran, dominated the boards for Louisville to keep Puerto Rico from any second chance at scoring, tallying five total rebounds in the first half with Puerto Rico scoring just two second-chance points.
Kiki Jefferson had a dominant quarter for Louisville, scoring 10 points to help Louisville lead by as many as 21, but it was Taylor leading the offensive charge for the team as she added to her nine first-half points to tally 14 by the half.
San Antonio continued to push for her side leading with 11 points and six rebounds by the half but turnovers plagued Puerto Rico as they committed 15 team fouls.
Louisville added another 12 points to lead by as many as 30 to start the third quarter, but Puerto Rico found their resurgence in the second half as they found their rhythm in the paint adding 10 points from down low with Mariah Perez adding four.
Taylor continued to lead Louisville tipping in another eight points, but Puerto Rico’s bench kept pushing to the net as seven different players were on the scoreboard for Puerto Rico by the end of the third quarter.
Nina Rickards carried the offensive load late in the fourth quarter for Louisville, driving the basket and scoring back-to-back baskets as Nyla Harris added nine second-half points with Louisville controlling the game underneath the basket.
Even with Alicia Quinones’ contributions of nine points, it wasn’t enough for Puerto Rico to close the 22-point gap Louisville created due to their strong rotation as well as dominance on the boards.
Taylor led all scorers with 22 points as Jefferson and Cochran each added 10 points and seven rebounds for Louisville in the win.
“I thought Syd played extremely well, she was a young lady that when she went into the transfer portal after graduating from UMass, we were really excited about pursuing and we were fortunate enough to convince her to come here and play,” said Walz.
“I thought all of our transfer played extremely well, our returners did some very nice things, so very excited about this group.”
San Antonio led Puerto Rico with 15 points, six rebounds and five assists as Perez added nine points and seven rebounds in the losing effort.
Puerto Rico will take on the BAL Women’s Select team next, while Louisville will play host country Canada, who already have eyes on Taylor as she prepares for the next game.
“I saw Canada out here scouting me so I know they’re going to be playing me from the three, so [working on] getting to the basket, developing my pull-up a little bit and looking for my teammates,” said Taylor.