LOUISVILLE, Ky. ? Austin Peay State University women's basketball team got off to a slow start and found itself deep in a hole it could not climb out of and fell to No. 10 Louisville, 72-42, Monday night, at the Kentucky International Convention Center.

Austin Peay (1-1) did not score a field goal until the 13:21 mark of the first half, a put-back by sophomore Ashley Herring off her own miss. But by then, the Cardinals had flown the coop, scoring 12 straight points to start the game and led 12-2 after Herring's basket.

Louisville (2-0) promptly rattled off the next 16 points, extending its lead to 28-2, before Austin Peay posted its second field goal, a three-pointer by Herring with 4:19 remaining. Herring seemed to gain some confidence from that basket, scoring eight of her 11 first-half points in the final 4:19. However, one person would not be enough against the Cardinals as they took a 35-13 lead into halftime.

Confidence, or the lack of it, punctuated the Lady Govs first-half performance. They made just five of their 25 field-goal attempts (19.2 percent) in the opening frame. And it wasn't for a lack of quality attempts ? Austin Peay had 16 shots inside the three-point arc, including 12 inside of six feet, but could not pry the lid off the basket.

Louisville pressed its advantage and pushed its lead past 30 points, 46-15, less than four minutes into the second half. A 13-3 Austin Peay run slashed that advantage to 21 points, 60-39, with 5:48 remaining, but the Lady Govs could not get any closer.

The offense recovered from its first half lethargy, with six different Austin Peay players finding paydirt. The statistics showed the improved confidence as well as APSU made nine of its 28 attempts (32.1 percent). More importantly that confidence sparked the Lady Govs defense which forced Louisville into 15 second-turnovers, which they converted into 15 points.

Herring led the Lady Govs with 12 points, but converted just 4-of-16 from the field. Junior Nicole Jamen finished with nine points ? all in the second half ? and grabbed nine rebounds.

Monique Reid led Louisville with 17 points and nine rebounds. Preseason All-American Angel McCoughtry finished with 15 points and seven rebounds while playing only 15 minutes.

Austin Peay returns to action when it hosts Troy in a 7 p.m., Friday contest at the Dunn Center.