Lousiville's Slaughter nears record for 3-point baskets

Antonita Slaughter didn’t just make history Sunday night, she made six 3-point baskets.

Shelbyville's Antonita Slaughter plays for the University of Louisville.

The latter helped Slaughter, the first Shelby County woman to play in an NCAA Final Four, and the University of Louisville earn a spot in the national championship game.

Slaughter scored a game-high 18 points – on the strength of 6-of-10

shooting from 3-point range – as the Cardinals rallied from a

10-point halftime deficit to defeat California, 64-57, Sunday in New Orleans Arena and secure a place in Tuesday night’s national title game against Connecticut.

“My teammates [were] just getting me open shots,” Slaughter, a 6-foot-1 junior

guard, said immediately after the game on ESPN. “They screen for me, they get me open, they know I can shoot, and they have confidence in me.”

They had plenty of reason to. In her first five NCAA Tournament games, heading into Tuesday’s final, Slaughter hit 17 of 38 3-point shots (44.7 percent). She made seven in UofL’s monumental upset of Baylor in the Sweet 16 before hitting half a dozen more in the Cards’ triumph over the Bears. She entered the final just three made 3s shy of tying the all-time tourney record shared by three players (two of whom were from UConn – Maya Moore in 2010 and Diana Taurasi in 2003).

Tuesday was Louisville’s second appearance in the NCAA final in four years as well as a rematch of the 2009 title game, which was won by UConn.

“No one expects us to be here, no one expects us to be in the championship game, [we’re] just coming together as a team and winning as a team,” Slaughter said Sunday.

In addition to trying to win the program’s first national title, Slaughter & Co. also were trying to follow the lead of the UofL men’s team – which beat Michigan, 82-76, Monday night in Atlanta – and in the process become only the second school to claim championships in both men’s and women’s basketball in the same season (UConn did it in 2004).