Breaking down the Cards win and scouting the Irish

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SUNDAY @ C.C.

-Cards guards respond to the challenge..
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-Notre Dame next: What to look for...
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-Women's Track and Field results @ Va.Tech.
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-Rain, rain...go away!
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-Kentucky Girls Sweet Sixteen set.
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LIVE GAME REPORTS FROM THE BIG EAST QUARTERFINALS:
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Cards fall 63-53 to Irish. 15 steals for the Cards but fell behind by 19 in second half. 2 for 19 from three point range isn't going to win many games. 20-25 Irish at the line..Louisville 3-7. Just sayin'. Cards wait for a NCAA bid.-Paul @ 10:16 p.m.
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Cards down by eight at half 32-24. 6-0 Irish run to close the half. Reid played five minutes (foul trouble). Hines with six, Schimmel five points. Way too many unforced turnovers for the Cards. Tay with good quality moments in relief. Cards need to keep up the "d" and hit some threes...one in first half...-Paul @ 9:07 p.m.
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DePaul wins 66-54 in methodical fashion. Every time St. John's would get it under ten...the Blue Demons pushed the lead back out. Katherine Harry of DePaul wouldn't want her mad at me.The main event next! Go Cards!-Paul @ 7:53 p.m.
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Game three halfway done. DePaul rolled out to a 16 point lead against the Red Storm but St.John's fought back to cut it to six before Blue Demons go in at half up 32-23. Balanced attack for the Chicago crew...Paul @ 6:48
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59-43. Huskies adavance over G'town. Hoyas had it down to eight but could get no closer. Stefanie Dolson turning into a beast on boards for UConn. Sugar Rodgers magnificent in defeat. Hoyas are in BIG DANCE, in my humble opinion... Paul @ 5:25 p.m.
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45-34 with 10:00 to go. Hoyas, behind Sugar Rodgers, haven't mailed it in yet. Stay tuned. -Paul@ 3:55 p.m.
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-Georgetown kept it interesting for a few minutes in game 2...but UConn broke a 7-7 tie and outscored the Hoyas 30-10 the rest of the way to lead 37-17 at half. Maya Moore only two points...not injured either...the Huskies in control and have it on cruise control. Hoya "D" needs to get busy...second half rally? -Paul @ 3:14 p.m.
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-Rutgers roars back in the second half to go up by 13 and holds on to win 68-62. Lee, Oliver and Sykes (no relation) good for 49 points for the Scarlet Knights. They survive to face the winner of Hoyas vs. Huskies next. Allison Williams still "girl on the court" for ESPNU. Hoo-hah!...-Paul @ 1:57 p.m.

-At the half with Rutgers vs. Marquette...Scarlet Knights threatened to run away with this one early and led 20-10 halfway thru the first stanza. Marquette turned up the defense and started scoring...going on a 16-4 run over the final ten to take a 26-24 lead at the intermission...-Paul @ 12:51 p.m.
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Shoni Schimmel (pictured above) had eight first half points en route to a 13 point performance against Villanova during the second round of the BIG EAST tournament . Cards win...69-47.
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Louisville got 32 total points from Schimmel, Monique Reid and Tia Gibbs in limited playing time as the Cards coast by the Wildcats...shooting 43.8% in the first half while building up 15 point advantage. Louisville shot 39.3% (24-61) against the Wildcats and went 7-20 (35%) from 3 point range. Louisville won a rare rebounding battle against an opponent last night also...48-24...with Reid's 13 grabs in 19 minutes leading the way. 'Nova rarely crashed the boards after taking a shot and Louisville held Harry Peretta's team to three offensive rebounds. Charmaine Tay went strong to the boards in a reserve role...with seven grabs in 15 minutes. Looks like she may have gotten out of the Walz kennel just in time for tournament play...The Cards went 14-18 from the free throw line for 77.8%...Reid leading the way with 4 makes in 5 attempts.
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The Cards were led by Schimmel's 13 points...Reid added 12, Antonita Slaughter finished with nine, as did Becky Burke. Tia Gibbs netted seven, Asia Taylor six, Keisha Hines five, Shelby Harper canned a three for her points, Tay and Rachel Story finished with two each and Sherrone Vails sank a free throw. 12 Cardinals played, all but Polly Harrington scored and each player saw at least eight minutes of court time.
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Louisville forced the Wildcats into 13 turnovers and had five steals against the slow and methodical Villanova offense. 11 assists (Burke 5) and blocked 4 shots. The Cards turned it over 11 times and had three shots blocked.
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Louisville's freshmen accounted for 25 of the Cards 69 points. All five played and they went 8 for 24 from the field. Schimmel and the frosh took 10 threes...making four. Schimmel led all Cardinal players with 22 minutes on the court. Vails saw 13 minutes, Slaughter 20, Tay 15 and Harrington eight.
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The XL Center announced that 8246 were in attendance. If so, 8100 of them must have been in line for popcorn the entire game...because it was a ghost town in the seats by the time the Cards started the second half. Dee Kanter led the officiating crew and actually refrained from wearing her whistle out for once...only 26 total fouls were called.
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Next for Louisville, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. WE go to David Watson for his take on Muffet McGraw's group and what to expect...
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Notre Dame has more weapons the the arsenal at Fort Knox, KY. Six different players have led the Irish in scoring this year. They love to score, too. They are leading the league in points per game. They narrowly edge the Huskies in this regard. The Irish average 79.4 a contest (as of 2/23/11). They're not particular who does the damage. Skylar Diggins will produce from anywhere on the court. Natalie Novosel gets 15 a game from wherever she feels like, as a rule. Becca Bruszewski and Dev Peters are the board crashers. Brittany Mallory (pictured here) is the major three point threat on a team that was 15th in the league in 3 pointers attempted. Add freshmen Natalie Achonwa, who was selected to the BIG EAST All-Freshman team and sharpshooting guard Kayla McBride and you have a Notre Dame squad that is deep and talented. Diggins, Peters and Novosel were 1st team All-BIG EAST. Peters the defensive player of the year and Novosel most improved of the year. Yeah, they've got everyone but Rudy and the Gipper on the 2010-11 version of UND WBB.

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DePaul beat them, though. The Irish (24-6, 13-3) lost to Kentucky, too. Two teams Louisville defeated this year. These were wins in the KFC YUM Center, though, where Louisville has a Roman gladiator versus peasants type advantage. Other than that, Connecticut nailed Muffet twice. Baylor and UCLA also put early losses on the Irish. They've defeated 15 opponents this year by 30+ points. Killer instinct? Yeah, I guess so.
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So, how does one go about beating the Irish? First, harassing Diggins and being aware of where she is at all times is a start. Keeping Peters and Bruszewski off the boards is another imperative. Getting Novosel into early foul trouble would be a plus and denying Mallory open looks from three point range essential as well.
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The Cards will need Reid magic from inside and excellent 3 point performances from Schimmel and Burke in what appears to set up as a high scoring affair. Gibbs will need a double digit scoring effort and at least a half a dozen steals. Taylor, Vails and Hines must go to the boards on both ends with authority and any sparks Louisville can get off the bench from Harper, Slaughter and Tay will be most welcome. The Cards will need accuracy from the free throw line and second chance points. Difficult, yes. Impossible, no. If Louisville can come up with a game effort like they did against DePaul or West Virginia, they could be in a position late to triumph. Defense is a major key, though and Louisville's main 9-10 players shouldn't be too worn out from Saturday's walk in the XL Center to let fatigue be a factor.
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The winner will most likely get DePaul. I don't see the Blue Demons stumbling against St. John's. It should be a fast paced and exciting one tonight. Hopefully, for both teams.
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(David Watson is a special corespondent for Cardinal Couple. His views, opinions and comments aren't necessarily those of the staff and management of CARDINAL COUPLE...but we like him and he comes up with some pretty good stuff. Even if he is a Hoosier...)
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Louisville track and field had four athletes take top honors in the Virginia Tech Final Qualifier in Blacksburg, VA. on Saturday. Michelle Theophille won the high jump with a leap of 1.74 meters. Teammate Megan Schubert finished second. D'Ana McCarty won the weight toss, destroying the competition by more than a meter and half over the nearest opponent and bettering her season best. Louisville's Amashi Kendall finished fourth. Margret Harris captured the 60 meters and Khadija Abdullah easily won the shot put...with Chinwe Okoro ending up third.
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Louisville will next compete in the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships on March 11th and 12th at College Station, TX in the Gilliam Indoor Track Stadium on the campus of Texas A&M University. Louisville expects several athletes to compete and a list of those qualifying will be announced this Monday.
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Rain cancelled the second day of Cardinal softball action in the Combat classic in Cookeville, TN. The Cards could get three games in today if weather permits...
UPDATE FROM COOKEVILLE. Tournament cancelled because of weather and field conditions. CARDS return to Ulmer to play beginning Friday.
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Manual advanced to the Kentucky High School Girls Sweet Sixteen Tournament with a win over Mercy 55-52. Mechael Guess scored 25 for the Lady Crimsons in the Seventh Region final.
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Butler joins them there...holding off Bullitt East 40-39 in the Sixth Region final. Balanced scoring for the Bearetts. They missed a one and one attempt at the end but B.E's final effort failed.
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Rockcastle County joins the group...knocking off Casey County 62-44. Only 5 points and 3 rebounds for Sara Hammond, a victim of early foul trouble.
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Marion County take the 5th Region title...disposing of pesky Elizabethtown 53-53. Makayla Epps with 16 for the winners...Bre Edler had 15 and Kyvin Goodin-Rodgers added 11.
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The Sweet Sixteen:
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Wednesday Games:
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Walton-Verona (25-8) vs. Bowling Green (25-1) 1 p.m.
Manual (30-4) vs. Crittenden County (21-8) 2:30 p.m.
Butler (27-4) vs. Perry County (27-3) 7:30 p.m.
Marion County (25-6) vs. Montgomery County (15-15) 9 p.m.
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Thursday Games
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Sheldon Clark (23-8) vs. Boyd County (21-10) 1 p.m.
Calloway County (30-1) vs. either Newport Catholic or Boone County (final today at 1 p.m.)
Madison Central (23-9) vs. Rockcastle County (31-1) 7:30 p.m.
Clay County (26-6) vs. Owensboro Catholic (27-7) 9 p.m.
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We'll have a full report later tonight on Louisville vs. Notre Dame game. LIVE REPORTS again today from Paul, too...unless he's fallen into the hands of captors or carnival carnies...GO CARDS!
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