LOUISVILLE, Ky. - A determined Austin Peay State University women's basketball went toe-to-toe with nationally-ranked Louisville for 30 minutes, but could not survive a second-half burst by the hosts and fell 78-60 in non-conference action, Tuesday, at the KFC Yum! Center.

Austin Peay (2-1) opened the second half with a 7-2 run, tying the game courtesy freshman Kristen Stainback's three-pointer with 16:56 remaining. However, Louisville responded with the game's next eight points before sophomore Nicole Olszewski made the Lady Govs next basket at the 15:16 mark to trail 44-38.

Louisville (4-1) used a 13-5 run over the next four minutes to build its first double-digit lead, 57-43, with 11:25 remaining . Austin Peay would only get as close as 11 the rest of the way while the Cardinals briefly pushed the lead to 20 points with 1:38 left before settling on the final score.

"We knew Louisville would come out and have a lot of defensive pressure," said Lady Govs head coach Carrie Daniels. "I felt we did a better job of handling their pressure in the second half but we weren't able to get the ball to fall at our end."

The Lady Govs made back-to-back three pointers to open the contest and led for the first 3:14 before Louisville tied the game, 6-6, with a pair of Becky Burke free throws. Austin Peay did not surrender the lead for another two minutes, Burke helping the Cardinals wrest the lead away with a conventional three-point play at the 14:27 mark. The Louisville lead would only grow to nine points, 32-23, with 2:42 left before Austin Peay closed the frame with five consecutive points to enter the half trailing 34-29.

Stainback scored her first collegiate basket as part of APSU's 6-0 opening run and led the Lady Govs with 15 points. Senior Whitney Hanley finished with 12 points - making all six of her free throws - and grabbed six rebounds.

Austin Peay shot 36 percent (9-of-25) in the opening half but cooled in the second frame, shooting 28.2 percent (11-of-39). The Lady Govs also had difficulty at the free-throw line, making just 54.5 percent (12-of-22) of its attempts.

"Free throws were another area I felt hurt us tonight," said Daniels. "We missed 10 free throws tonight and I don't know how many of those were the front end of one-and-one's. That's something we have to improve on; we have to step up and make those shots."

Monique Reid led Louisville with 18 points off the bench. Burke added 15 points.

Austin Peay travels to California for the Cal Poly Thanksgiving Classic, Friday-Saturday. The Lady Govs meet American in a 9 p.m. (CT), Friday contest before facing host Cal Poly at 7 p.m. (CT), Saturday.