WEDNESDAY @ CARDINAL COUPLE:
-Despite Reid's 19 second half points, Cards collapse in final twenty to take the defeat.
A THANKSGIVING story and wishes...
For 20 minutes in the Tuesday night contest in Cincinnati, Louisville had the Xavier Musketeers number. With Monique Reid (pictured here) on the bench for the final 12:47 of the first half due to foul trouble, Louisville still managed to lead by as many as 11 points in the first half and take a 31-28 lead to the locker room.
College basketball consists of two halves, however...and the Muskies came out hot in the second half and used a 12-2 run to begin the final twenty minutes to build a lead Louisville could not overcome.
Louisville started the contest jumping out to an early 11-6 lead in the game, thanks to a couple of three's by Shoni Schimmel and Antonita Slaughter and increased the margin to 11 after another Schimmel trifecta to go up 23-12 with around nine minutes remaining in the first half.
With Reid on the bench saddled with 2 fouls...freshmen Schimmel, Slaughter and Sherrone Vails took control of the Cardinal offense and despite Amber Harris's 13 first half points...led by seven with 3 minutes to go and withstood a late Muskie 4-0 run to go in up by three.
Xavier got 2 three's from guard Special Jennings and and continued strong play from Harris to start the second half and erased the Cardinal margin quickly. The Muskies scored twelve of the first 14 points to open the half and controlled the boards.
With 16:00 to go in the game, Xavier had a 36-33 lead and built that with an opening second half 22-5 run to lead 50-36 halfway through the final stanza. The Cards would manage to cut the deficit to nine at 62-53 late in the game but get no closer in the final five minutes. Despite Reid's heroics in the final twenty minutes...Louisville could not stop Harris inside or keep her off the boards.
Harris had a monster game against the Cards with 28 points and 18 rebounds. Jennings finished with 13 for Xavier. Reid paced the Cards with 20 points in 25 minutes and Schimmel totaled 16 for Louisville. Vails ended up with nine for the Cards..fouling out with 4 minutes to go.
The #5 Muskies (3-0) out rebounded Louisville 40-34 and forced the Cards into 24 turnovers. Louisville seemed out of sync in the second half...rushing shots and failing to slow down the Xavier transition game for much of the final half. Reid, Vails and Schimmel scored 27 of Louisville's 28 second half points...Asia Taylor getting the other on a free throw. The Cards made only two threes in the second half after popping in five in the first half.
Tia Gibbs did not score in the game but grabbed 10 rebounds for Louisville. Xavier shot 64% in the second half...mostly on layups, Harris in the paint and held Louisville to 38.9% from the field for the game after the Cards shot almost 50% in the first half.
Louisville (3-2) returns to the road for a Friday evening match up at Old Dominion next.
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WE here at CARDINAL COUPLE would like to thank our readers as Thanksgiving Day draws upon us. Thanks to you...our readership has grown dramatically this year and WE appreciate the loyalty and interest that you have shown in our "little blog" that is all grown up now.
WE also ask of you to give a little of yourself this holiday season. WE were touched by this story we ran across several years ago in a collection of short, anonymously written stories.
Read it and ask yourself...'Can I do more?"
It was Thanksgiving Day many years ago, and there was the usual assortment of friends and relatives at Grandma's house. Midway thru the day, Grandma came to me with a look of concern in her eyes.
"No one brought any egg nog this year. You know how your Uncle Nick likes his egg nog after the meal."she worriedly whispered.
I knew that look. Although the Thanksgiving Day football game I was watching with the rest of the men was just beginning to get interesting, I volunteered to head out and pick up a couple of jugs. My doting niece Sandra requested to go along, bored with the football and 'women' talk. We headed off and pulled into the gas and grocery near Grandma's house.
As we entered, the cashier was having an animated discussion with a young boy at the register. The boy left the counter. His depression and sadness was easy to see. We gathered up the egg nog and went to check out. Curious over the discussion I saw earlier, I inquired about discussion. The clerk shrugged his shoulders.
"Not enough money to buy what he wanted."
We completed our purchase and headed back to the car. Sandra saw the young boy walking down the road away from us.
"Can't we do something?" she asked. I pulled the car to the side of the road where he was walking and rolled down the window. His coat was insufficient for the brisk weather and he carried a small bag with a couple of cans of tomato soup inside. His name was Jefferey and he explained to me that his mother had sent him to the store to buy bread, bologna and soup for dinner for him and his little brother but she hadn't given him enough money. I asked him to get in the car and we drove back to the store. I handed him a $20 and told him to go get what he needed and I would wait for him and drive him home. His eyes lit up and in a few minutes he came out of the store with several bags. He handed me several dollars back in change and I told him to keep it. We drove him to his residence, an older apartment complex where the impoverished lived. He thanked us and entered one of the doors.
It was after our meal when Sandra came up to me.
"We should have done more." she commented, tears welling in her eyes. "He looked to be about my age. I keep thinking, what if that was me?"
Her words hit home. I spent the next 20 minutes busily working in the kitchen with Sandra and Grandma, who we filled in on the story. Out to the car we went and minutes later, pulled up in front of the battered apartment complex. We knocked on the door, and a tired-looking, middle aged women opened.
"We have Jefferey's order here." I pleasantly informed her. Bewildered, she opened the door and we walked in. Jefferey sat in the kitchen and his eyes lit up when he saw us. We started unloading the bags of turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, green bean casserole, rolls, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie. "Just heat it up and your ready to go." Grandma instructed the now crying mother and she gave her a hug.
."I have no money to pay you." she stammered. Grandma looked at her and with tears rolling down her eyes, replied.
"There is no money due. It's Thanksgiving. We're grateful that you have your family here with you, just as I am grateful that my family is here with me"
At Christmas time, Jefferey and his family received another order...this time it was winter coats and warm clothing. I kept track of Jefferey, his brother Ronnie and their mom for several years until they moved away when their mom got offered a better paying job out of state.
I got a letter in the mail today. In it was a newspaper clipping. The article listed graduates of a certain high school. I scanned the article and saw Jefferey's name listed. The envelope also contained a $20 bill. A small note was attached, reading...'This is for the next kid you find who can only afford tomato soup. Jefferey."
THIS THANKSGIVING... ASK YOURSELF..."CAN I DO A LITTLE MORE?"
MAY THE JOY AND THE GOODWILL OF THE SEASON BE WITH YOU...
-the staff and owners of CARDINAL COUPLE
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