Western Kentucky hung tight as long as it could.

Then Louisville showed why it’s a national title contender one game removed from the Final Four.

The Lady Toppers kept it close for 20 minutes, but the No. 5 Cardinals pulled away for a 102-80 win in the season opener for both teams Tuesday at E.A. Diddle Arena.

Preseason All-American Asia Durr scored 33 points in three quarters for Louisville before Jeff Walz emptied his bench in the fourth quarter to secure his 300th win in the building where his coaching career began as a graduate assistant in 1996-97.

Louisville (1-0) used a 26-2 run over six minutes of the third quarter to down the Lady Toppers (0-1) in the head coaching debut of Greg Collins.

WKU fought to keep it within nine at halftime, but Louisville outscored the Lady Toppers in the third quarter 31-8.

“Our rotation was good and we were hitting shots too and getting out in transition,” WKU guard Dee Givens said. “Everything just changed after that.”

WKU’s defensive efforts weren’t enough to stop Louisville’s hot shooting of 16-of-34 from behind the arc and 38-of-68 clip from the floor.

Adding on to Durr’s 33 points – which she scored in just 21 minutes – was Arica Carter dropping 19 and a double-double from Pittsburgh transfer Yacine Diop (10 points, 11 rebounds).

WKU’s early-season approach of playing full court and up tempo was matched by a team that may have played it better. A week after registering 29 assists in an exhibition game against Division-II West Virginia State, WKU was held to just 10 assists while committing 15 turnovers.

Louisville was the efficient unit with 22 assists.

“They have a lot of athletes on their team,” Givens said. “When we were going they were going with us. They have a lot of athletes so they were just equal to us.”

Unequal to anyone on the floor that night was Durr, the preseason AP All-American and defending Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year. Durr hit her first two 3-point attempts and scored the first 11 points to set the tone for the Cardinals.

Durr finished the night 12-of-21 from the floor with seven 3-pointers.

“If Asia Durr is not the best guard in the country, I’m not sure who is,” Collins said. “We were trying to make sure we didn’t leave her open at the 3-point line, but she put some shots right over the defender’s hands and we kept talking to them about bringing the ball back down, but that’s easier said than done when you’re guarding a kid of that talent. This may be one of if not the best team Jeff has had and with her, they’ve got a real shot at being there at the end of the season.”

WKU strung together two runs to pull back within single digits in the first half. A fast-break layup from Givens and back-to-back baskets from Raneem Elgedaway cut the Louisville lead back to 46-39. WKU forced a turnover on the other end and Whitney Creech’s jumper cut the deficit to six to spark the loudest reaction of the night from 3,476 in attendance.

Carter’s 3-pointer from the top of the key silenced the crowd to snap what was an 8-0 run by the Lady Toppers.

Durr closed the quarter with a triple to reach 21 points and put Louisville up 54-43 at halftime.

Then came the Cardinal’s 26-2 run that went over six minutes in the third quarter for their largest lead at 34 points.

“We came out in the second half and Jeff got out of the full-court stuff,” Collins said. “We weren’t able to score and we couldn’t press. We didn’t rebound so we couldn’t run. We were having trouble getting up and down the floor. That’s what we’ve spent the majority of our time teaching the team is to play fast and get up and down the court and so when he got out of the full court stuff and got into half court, it became hard for us to score and rebound and we couldn’t get up and down the floor as well.”

Alexis Brewer led WKU with 22 points, more than half of which came on a 12-of-16 night from the free-throw line. Givens had 18 points while Raneem Elgedawy added 14 points and nine rebounds.

“I’m really impressed with them,” Walz said of WKU. “they’re going to turn into a really good ball club once they get some games under their belt.”

NOTES

Greg Collins is 0-1 as WKU’s head coach. … WKU dropped to 35-11 all-time in regular-season openers. … WKU leads the all-time series with Louisville 25-21. … WKU is 3-9 against ranked opponents with Collins on staff the last six seasons. … WKU used the starting lineup of Whitney Creech, Alexis Brewer, Meral Abdelgawad, Dee Givens and Raneem Elgedawy. … Announced attendance was 3,476.{&end}